E Pluribus Unum
by friendlyquark
Summary: The sequel to Sub Rosa. Kathryn returns, but shadows from her past follow her and Voldemort's new allies threaten everything she holds dear. Can she and Severus make a family for Orion in the midst of war?
1. One Last Job

Chapter 1– One Last Job

Kathryn Leblanc checked herself one last time in the mirror. Her hair had been transformed from its usual rich brown to a dead black bob. Her eyes, chocolate this morning, were a muddy washed out blue now. The layers of grime, filth and makeup she had artfully applied further altered her appearance and by stooping her shoulders, snapping her gum and tilting her hips, she now looked like the lowliest guttersnipe ever born to thieve and starve. It was perfect, she decided.

Shrugging on a tattered coat and wrapping an unraveling knitted scarf around her neck, she stepped out of the dingy public bathroom and slouched her wary way across the deserted park, headed for the red light district. It was too hot in the coat, but she needed the extra bulk to hide her figure from prying eyes. Her curves were rounded and lush, too attractive for this part of town.

A sullen and unfriendly expression plastered on her face, she found a sheltered spot across from a triple x theatre in a dingy alleyway. The night hid her movements and the evening breezes were blowing the sodden heat of the humid afternoon away.

The marquee, plastered with "Beauxbatons Babes 3," a title meant to titillate and amuse, left her cold. She huddled out of sight of the street, waiting with the patience of a predator. 

The street was old; the cobblestones had been partly paved over for modern traffic, but the buildings were bent old crones, leaning together for stability, creaking and groaning as they gossiped against the darkening sky. It was a neighborhood that had once been genteel, now fallen on hard times.

For the last three weeks, she had been staking out this same spot. The locals knew better than to cross her now and it was vacant each time she arrived. Her knife had convinced them to be cautious of her and killing the pimp who had tried to 'recruit' her had convinced them she was both crazy and dangerous. They left her alone now and that suited her perfectly.

A movement caught her eye -- the subtle blurring of a Disillusionment Charm -- and Kathryn smiled, all shark and without an ounce of compassion. She drew her wand and edged closer to the corner of the building. The alley was deeply shadowed and her approach was invisible. 

With the darting speed of a cobra, she wrapped an arm around her quarry and dragged him into the alley. She stunned him with a whispered spell and drew her knife. 

Fifteen minutes later, she was gone, slinking away across town; no trace of blood or body would ever be found, just another old man gone missing. Kathryn smiled again, feeling the cooling breezes whistling through the streets of Boston. Sometimes the direct approach to fighting evil was simply more satisfying.

The MSA was headquartered in the basement of a software company. The Muggles upstairs had no idea that far below their cubicles and computers an entire world was hidden. Kathryn apparated into the antechamber and allowed herself to be scanned and searched by the goblins on watch. They handed her wand back to her after checking her clearance, a process they went through with due diligence despite having known her for twenty years. Kathryn, unlike others, never complained about the process; she had been here when the polyjuiced assassin had tried to get in.

Once released from the security station, she strode down the corridor to the Concealment lab. Terry greeted her with a broad smile and a few deft wand waves later she looked like herself again. She stepped into the changing booth and stripped off the dirty clothing. A few cleansing charms and she smelled as much better as she now looked.

She dressed quickly, knowing that she had reports to file even if her spotter would have gotten back hours before she had and told Madam Chanel the results of the mission. She had had to take the time to dispose of the corpse and clean the area thoroughly. She had also had to make sure there was no one following her as she returned to HQ. Time-consuming but ultimately necessary.

She had barely made it to her desk when the memo fluttered up to her. She grabbed it from the air and sighed. The Old Lady wanted to see her immediately. She nodded to her co-workers who waved or nodded back before returning to their work; no slackers were allowed in the MSA and the sheer dedication could be frightening to see.

Kathryn paused to twist her brown hair up into a knot and made sure that all traces of dirt and make-up were gone. With the gray robes of a government employee draped over her shoulders, she strode to answer her boss' summons. 

Striding through the wood paneled hallways with their magical light fixtures casting a steady glow on the dark carpeting, Kathryn contemplated her feelings. They had undergone a surprising transformation over the last year. 

There was a time when she would have felt a thrill of pleasure to be so called, but lately everything seemed as muted and gray as her robes. Her nights were filled with tossing and turning and her days were too long and too empty. She knew what the problem was; there was simply nothing she could do about it. She put her head down and endured, she did her job and she took each day one moment at a time, but much of the joy had gone out of it for her. 

She tried hard not to think about Him. Sometimes she was successful, but most of the time, she failed. He crept into her mind at the oddest times. She would think of Him when she watched someone drink their morning coffee, or when she had to go talk to the Potions researchers in the basement. At night, it was the worst; she would crawl into her empty bed to sleep and wake to find her hands reaching for something that wasn't there anymore. She cried in the shower, thinking of His hands, His lips and the way His eyes would go absolutely black with passion.

She shut down that line of thought and knocked on Madam Chanel's door. A click and the door swung open of its own accord, a neat trick that intimidated most of the younger agents. Kathryn had long since become immune to it, even before Him. Damn it; stop thinking about that, she scolded herself.

The Old Lady's office was spotless, of course; all understated office furniture, with delicate ornamentation. The walls were paneled in rosewood to match the furniture and the floors were carpeted in plush burgundy pile. The paintings and photos tastefully framed on the wall, including the portrait of Madam Chanel's predecessor, the hawk-faced Captain Fielding, stared down at Kathryn with a look of sympathy, and she wondered what pile of shit she had to clean up next.

"Sit down, Kathryn." Uh-oh, when the Old Lady used her first name, she knew it was serious. "First, let me say that the job you did on 'the Wolf' was clean and professional, I am pleased." Kathryn relaxed slightly. 

The old man had been cautious; it had taken months to tie him firmly to Voldemort and months more to prove he was heading Death Eater activity in America. When Kathryn had been injured, she had been unable to follow up on her surveillance of him, but had kept abreast of every tidbit of information she could wring from other agents' field reports.

Finding out that he was the linchpin of Voldemort's American operation had come as a joyful surprise early in the summer; since then, she had been crawling around through computer files, physical records, and reports trying to find a pattern by which to kill him. 

His removal set Voldemort back years and left the American operation headless and confused. 

"Thank you, Madam Chanel." Still, Kathryn knew that the reward for a job well done was another job. So, she waited.

"Your next assignment will be rather difficult." Madam Chanel hesitated and Kathryn looked at the older woman in surprise. The large hooked nose and broad brow that proclaimed Flora Chanel's Mayan heritage, the black eyes so intense and focused, were as familiar to Kathryn as her own features in the mirror. She was stunned, therefore, to see a look of indecision crossing a face that had always looked so sure. "I am sending you back to England," the Old Lady got out finally.

She couldn't help it, Kathryn's heart leapt in joy. His face, His voice rushed into her mind and she kept herself still by sheer willpower.

"Indeed, Madam?" Kathryn's voice was slightly breathless and Madam Chanel relaxed back into her chair, suddenly seeming relieved.

"I am releasing you, Kathryn." Shock kept her silent in the face of that statement. She stared at the older woman, seeing for the first time the lines of age and worry that had etched themselves into her flesh. Kathryn was speechless; she had never imagined that this day would come to her, not so soon.

"I'm sorry?" Kathryn needed confirmation.

"I'm releasing you to Albus Dumbledore and The Order of the Phoenix." Those words dropped into Kathryn's mind like stones. She was halfway out of her chair in fury and pain before she got control of herself and sank back stiffly. She was being sent away not to freedom, but to be bound to someone else's service. She was being handed over to another master.

"Has my service been so poor?" She asked bitterly. The Old Lady winced and looked down at her hands.

"No, others' needs were greater than mine." Madam Chanel looked up at Kathryn and there was honest regret in her eyes. "You know the prophecy, Kathryn." Leaning back into her chair, Kathryn let her analyst's mind turn the thought around and around, fitting it into the larger puzzle. When the last piece clicked into place she turned back to her erstwhile boss.

"You are sending me back to make sure Harry survives long enough to defeat Voldemort." There was thoughtfulness in her words now, instead of the bitter feeling of betrayal. She was still angry; she knew her value and she doubted that anything Albus could trade for her would be equal to her loss to the MSA.

"Yes. I also want to be certain that the Order has some support." In response to the soft-spoken words, Kathryn's eyebrow arched in an expression that she had picked up from Him. She knew that the Order was filled with people both loyal and dedicated, but that it also had no one with her background and experience.

"You think the final battle will take place in England, against the Order." The Old Lady nodded and Kathryn sighed.

"What's my cover?" She asked wearily.

"Defense teacher at Hogwarts." Kathryn's heart skipped a beat and she couldn't keep the tiny smile from her face.

"Thank you." It was all clear now and the last of her anger drained away. Albus had pleaded for her to return and Flora Chanel had figured out how to sell it to the Council. She was being given a gift by the older woman and whatever else she had to do while there, she was most certainly being sent home to Severus.

"Don't thank me, you will have to go back to the tightrope and you will be a full member of the Order. Plus, I will be sending work your way; you are still my best analyst." Kathryn nodded her understanding, but her heart was light for the first time in over two months. 

It was August and she could be in England in a few days, in the bed of her beloved. There was nothing that could dampen her joy at that, even the knowledge that her leash was being handed over to someone else. 

"I serve, Madam." She rose as she was dismissed, the motto of the MSA coming to her lips as both thanks and promise. Madam Chanel nodded and Kathryn left to go clean out her desk.


	2. Paternal Instincts

Chapter 2 – Paternal Instincts

Severus paced the halls of the tiny cottage with an expression of boredom plastered on his face. The truth is he was anything but bored. In the next room he could hear the midwife's gentle coaching and Bellatrix's screams and insults. He hoped the Muggle belief that the birthing process formed a baby's personality was untrue; otherwise Ryan would grow up to swear like a sailor. Voldemort had chosen to be absent for the actual birth, smart bugger that he was, Severus thought savagely. His command to guard Bellatrix, sadly, did not allow Severus to escape the grunts and howls emanating from her bedroom. 

Hours passed and a thin wail could be heard coming from behind the door; then soft voiced conversation from the midwife and a sharp insult and angry retort from Bellatrix.

The door opened and the harassed woman, all round plumpness and bespectacled blue eyes, emerged with a tiny bundle in her arms. Severus went absolutely still and then crept over to peek at his son.

"He is quite healthy, Mr. Broom." The midwife said nervously. Severus smiled at the little boy who was howling fit to burst in the midwife's arms. The child caught sight of the dark eyes watching him and quieted, seemingly comforted by his father's presence. He was red and somewhat squashed by the birthing process, but Severus thought he was quite handsome despite that. He noted the tiny button nose with relief. 

"He is perfect, Goody Bloom." Severus took the baby from the suddenly smiling woman. He could almost read her mind: at least this child would have one parent who loved him. Severus took the baby gently in one arm and being careful not to disturb the child who was drifting off to sleep, stunned the midwife and then obliviated her.

Three hours later he was sitting at 12 Grimmauld Place, being made the recipient of much helpful feminine advice. The rooms Albus had put aside for his occasional use were pleasant, more so now that Molly had chased the dark gnomes from under the couch. The Verruca monster had taken some time to get rid of, but Arthur had finally driven her out of the sock drawer and it was a great relief. A small wardrobe, bassinet and changing table had been set up in the parlor and along with the couch and the many bookshelves, Severus had found the rooms very comfortable. There was a bedroom and private bath off the parlor, which suited his desire for privacy very well.

The little parlor was done in robin's egg blue, Molly's choice. Severus had preferred the previous dark wood paneling and black drapes. The curtains were a cream colored silk and the couch matched them. It was light, airy and despite how little it suited Severus, he hadn't had the heart to ask Molly to change it. Harry had given her a huge amount of money to redecorate with and she was so excited and happy about not having to buy second-hand tatty furniture that he had just grumbled about her color choices and let her be. 

Molly Weasley was bottle-feeding little Ryan with the practiced ease that can only come after quite so many children. Her red hair, untouched by gray, was pulled back away from the baby's reach and her bright eyes were sparkling with happiness as she cooed at Ryan.

She was chattering to both the baby and Severus, giving him a crash course in nappies, bottles and bath time. It was difficult to figure out which bits of her conversation were addressed to him and which were addressed to the baby, since both were delivered in a saccharine tone that he found revolting in the extreme.

"Yes, that's a good little man! Regularity is the key dear, they need a schedule. Do you want a burping, little angel? Yes, you do. Baths need to be warm but not too hot, and you need to check his nappies regularly so he doesn't get a rash. No, wouldn't want that, would we puss'ums?"

The baby, tossed over one of Molly's plump shoulders and patted vigorously, emitted a sound that Hagrid's dog might make and that Severus found highly alarming.

"Is he supposed to sound like that?" Severus stared at the tiny child, so small with pale eyes and a cap of ebon curls, far too sweet looking to have made a noise like a Hippogriff in heat.

"Oh yes, he is a healthy little lad, isn't he." Molly sounded as though the burp were the most melodious noise on earth and Severus relaxed and took the cooing baby back from her. The miniature fists waved happily and little bubbles of spit rose from between the tiny rosebud lips. Severus was amazed to find that what would disgust him on anyone else was actually rather charming on his son. A spare nappy was pressed into drool duty and Ryan kicked in his blankets, apparently enjoying his father's attention.

"He really likes you Severus." Molly said with happy complacency.

"Yes, who could have imagined it?" His hair hung down and tickled the child. A tiny hand tried unsuccessfully to grab the dangling lock and Severus tucked it away from potential harm. 

Looking into his son's eyes was something he could do all day. The baby had wide clear eyes and a steady, if unfocused, gaze.

"You're his Da, Severus, why wouldn't he like you?" Molly gave him a stern gaze and he returned her a small smile.

"Because he would be the first person under the age of thirty to do so." Molly chuckled and shook her head at him, but he was lost again in the tiny face that peered up at him with such wonder and trust. He could twist the tiny neck so easily; he jerked his mind away from the thought. His history was always there, in the background of his mind, would he ever be free of it? He had never killed a child so young, but he had killed children in the past. 

He thought of Kathryn -- how would she react to this child? She said she would love him, but faced with the reality of what he had had to do with Bellatrix, would she resent him? Would she see in Ryan the reflection of the darkness that had surrounded his conception? Severus could only see the extreme innocence of the child. He wanted to preserve that innocence for as long as possible. He wanted all sorts of things for his son. He wanted peace, security and happiness for him and everything good that he could gift to this child. Ryan was drifting off to sleep in his arms, relaxing into the boneless sprawl that seemed to characterize very small children.

Molly was watching the baby with a goofy smile that Severus suspected mirrored his own. He was quite prepared to make a fool of himself for this tiny person; he would sacrifice dignity, quiet and sleep and he would try to do it with grace.

"It's so different when they are yours, isn't it Severus." Molly murmured softly, stroking a finger along one rosy cheek. "Knowing that they look to you for everything, that they trust you completely and that you just can't fail them, because their life depends on you." Severus nodded; along with the incredible feeling of wonder and love that was blossoming in his heart was the heavy weight of responsibility. He had to protect and care for this child.

"Albus has enlarged my quarters; he's added a playroom and child-proofed the place for Ryan's safety." Severus shifted the sleeping child to ease the strain on his arms.

"Where will he sleep?"

"With me, at first. I want to be sure to wake when he cries." Molly smiled at him as though he had told her he was presenting her with Lucius Malfoy's fortune. Severus was suddenly uncomfortable, feeling exposed and shy. Molly seemed to sense his discomfort and turned away to bustle about the room. She was opening the myriad packages and bundles that she had brought along today. 

Shopping for Ryan had been an obstacle until Molly's elder sister had had her first grandchild and thereafter Molly simply bought all of Ryan's things under the pretext of helping her great-niece. Severus had provided the money and arranged to send plenty of gifts to the other baby as well, to cover their tracks. He had been secretly pleased to repay Molly's kindness with this hidden act of charity, for he hated to owe debts to anyone, or at least that is what he told himself.

Molly began tucking baby things into the clothes press in the corner. He watched her neatly fold the tiny garments with a flick of her wand and then she waved at him and departed, leaving him alone with his son.

Ryan stirred in his grasp and he rose, walked over to the white wicker bassinet and settled the sleeping child into it. Molly had bought it of course. The ribbons woven through the wicker were in pale blue and yellow -- an insipid choice, he decided, and with a quick wand wave they were transformed to Slytherin green. Much better. He stepped back and admired the effect. Another wand wave and the wicker was a more natural golden color, fitting better with the ribbons and his personal tastes. He didn't suppose that a black bassinet would be appropriate, though he thought it would be attractive.

Two weeks here at Headquarters and then he would transfer Ryan to Hogwarts in time to get ready for the next year's students. How he was going to take care of the baby, teach and spy all at once, he had no clue. He guessed he would have to make it up as he went along.

Looking down into his son's tiny face he knew that whatever he had to do, it would be worth it.


	3. Arcana Imperii

Chapter 3 – Arcana Imperii

The Magical Workings Room was dark stone and lit only by torches. In the rather Victorian MSA offices, it was a throwback to a thousand years ago. A permanent circle was embedded in the stone, gleaming golden in the torchlight. Flora Chanel stood in garments that would have looked at home at a Mayan ball game: jaguar pelt draped over her head and shoulders, feathered armbands and sandals. Albus was as he always was, dressed in bright gaudy robes that distracted the viewer from noticing the keen eyes and his aura of leashed power.

Kathryn stood in the circle, draped in black robes, listening to the soft drone of Madam Chanel's chanting. Albus stood behind her, watching as Flora unwrapped the bindings that held Kathryn locked into loyal service to the MSA.

As the layers of binding twisted away, Kathryn felt freer and lighter, as though tiny weights were being lifted from her. She wondered how it would be to feel this way all the time. 

A scene of blood and snow wandered through her thoughts and she sighed. She knew that if the bindings hadn't been in place she would have torn the bastard limb from limb with every ounce of Magic in her. Intellectually she knew it would have been wrong, but she had never been able to work up the attendant emotions of guilt or regret. 

The last binding fell away and Kathryn knew she could apparate away and be free forever, right then. His eyes, vivid in her memory, held her in place. She stilled her wild thoughts and held onto the thought that if she just endured this one indignity, she could crawl into bed beside Severus and never have to leave him again. 

The image of his face relaxed in sleep distracted her mind from the sensation of tightening cords as Albus began his bindings. She kept her mind on her goal, knowing that soon she wouldn't even feel the ties that bound her; they would be like her breath, unnoticed until she directed her attention to it.

Albus' voice was warm and soothing, a gentle ripple in her consciousness. It was strange how she had come to trust the man so completely over the last year. Not that she thought him infallible; far from it, she just knew that he would do his very best at all times and his very best was very good indeed. She doubted that she would have agreed to this situation if it were anyone besides Albus, no matter how much she missed Severus.

When the last words drifted away into silence, Kathryn shifted and stretched herself, testing the bonds. She raised an eyebrow at Albus, for they were far looser than anything Madam Chanel had ever placed on her had been. She kept her mouth shut though, as he smiled at her former boss, for she realized that Madam Chanel had no clue as to what he had done. 

With a smile, she hugged the older woman and hefted her bag of worldly possessions on to her shoulder. Albus reached out with one hand and presented her with a book. As she grasped it the familiar tug of a portkey jerked in her midriff and she felt the world whiz by.

The house at 12 Grimmauld Place was dark and silent when she arrived. The time difference between London and Virginia made it about one in the morning here.

She stood in the hallway, looking up the staircase at the landing. Since last she visited, someone-- Molly probably-- had been hard at work. The fixtures, once all dark and creepy, were now brightly polished brass. The banisters gleamed dark wood and the stairs were covered with brightly patterned Persian carpet runners. It felt welcoming and homey. Too bad the portrait of Sirius' mother was still there behind its curtains.

Somewhere nearby a baby began to fuss and cry. Trained by years of living in a large family, Kathryn instinctively followed the sound. She climbed the stairs and came to a partly open door. Peering inside, she saw the source of the robust wailing. 

A wicker bassinet wiggled, as tiny arms and legs kicked and she moved forward into the shadowed room. She could make out no details, but reached into the bassinet and picked up the tiny figure.

"Hey, you, what's wrong?" She cooed at the baby and stuck a pinkie into the child's mouth. The baby latched onto the finger hungrily and Kathryn immediately began looking for a bottle. She located a row of them on a nearby shelf and, adjusting the baby into proper feeding position, she checked the temperature and then popped it into the baby's mouth. The tyke began greedily pulling on the bottle's nipple with little happy noises.

"Lumos." Kathryn turned with a smile at the sound of the much-loved voice as the light came up in the room. Severus was pulling himself groggily from a couch by the bassinet and Kathryn was amused by the picture he presented. He wore only a plain white shirt and black trousers, his suspenders twisted and shirt half open. He had a growth of stubble and bleary eyes. He held his wand in one hand and looked about ready to drop.

"Hello, Severus." She stepped towards him, baby still cradled in her arms. He was staring at her like she was some sort of mirage and she grinned. "Miss me?"

He groaned and hobbled towards her.

"Kathryn?" He was running the ragged edge of exhaustion and she kissed him gently, afraid she might knock him over.

"Get some sleep, love. I'll take over with Ryan." She nudged him with a hip, since both hands were full and watched as he stumbled back to the couch and collapsed onto it.

"Between Voldemort and Ryan, I am not getting any sleep at all." He murmured and Kathryn's amusement turned to concern.

"Sleep now, Sev, I'll stand watch." His face began to relax into sleep and she sighed. Poor angel, he looked like death warmed over. She had never seen a more welcome sight, though. She settled into a nearby rocking chair and paid full attention to the little boy cradled in her arms.

Now that she knew who he was she studied him. He had pale eyes, somewhere between blue and gray, a mop of thick curly black hair and a tiny button nose. He was tiny, perfect and adorable. He was looking up at her with his unfocused gaze in contentment. Tiny slurping noises accompanied his meal and she hummed softly as she fed him.

"Hello pretty boy." She kissed him lightly on his brow and smiled down at him with a quiet joy. His frantic suckling came to an end and she withdrew the bottle, setting it on the small end table next to a rocking chair. She stood and shifted the baby so she could burp him and walked with him back and forth while he made some rather amusing noises.

A turn of her head revealed that Ryan had drifted back to sleep on her shoulder and she checked his diaper before tucking him back into the bassinet.

Severus was sprawled on the couch in a very uncomfortable position. There were times she really hated how bad she was at transfiguration; Minerva could turn the lumpy couch into a feather bed. With a sigh, she gently turned him so he wouldn't rise with a crick in his neck and draped a blanket over his recumbent form.

She dropped a kiss on his forehead and went in search of a bedroom and some sleep.


	4. Awakenings

Chapter 4 – Awakenings

Severus woke from a pleasant dream where Kathryn had been there with Ryan. He had wanted to stay in the dream; he had been missing her so much, in the last week especially. Molly had abandoned him to his own devices when Ginny had been inconsiderate enough to come down with Swan Flu. Since then he had been summoned twice and suffered under too many Cruciatus curses. Severus rose and staggered weakly to Ryan's bassinet, his limbs still trembling from the aftermath of the last curse.

Ryan lay curled up in a different sleeper than the one Severus knew he had put him in. The baby was clean and fast asleep. Severus wondered if Molly had come back last night. With a puzzled frown he headed downstairs to make his coffee. He was the only coffee drinker in the house, so he had to brew his own every morning.

He hit the bottom landing and the smell of fresh-brewed coffee hit his nose. Who had made a pot? Kingsley occasionally drank the black brew, so maybe he was here today. A soft clatter of dishes, Remus's voice coming from the library and Tali's answering call informed him that the couple was awake and moving about. The light slanting though the sitting room window told him that it was late and he had somehow slept in.

He stepped into the kitchen and stopped in shock and burgeoning hope. A familiar brown-haired woman was leaning over the stove, frying eggs and bacon while Albus sat at the table sipping tea.

"I wasn't dreaming last night." He realized with a start. Kathryn turned and smiled at him. She grabbed a cup of coffee from the pot she had brewed and then pressed it into his hands with a soft kiss to his mouth.

"Good morning." He set the cup aside and grabbed her against him. Coffee could wait; he needed to assure himself that he really wasn't dreaming. Her mouth against his, warm and passionate, brought him more awake and he clung hard to her.

"How long can you stay?" His words were whispered into her hair, but Albus replied from across the room.

"We get to keep her this time." Albus chuckled at Severus' confused expression.

"Madam Chanel released me, Severus. I am no longer an Agent." There was a touch of sorrow in her eyes, but her arms around him were holding on as tightly as he was.

"What will you do then?" Severus still felt groggy and slow.

"Well, I thought maybe I would teach Defense Against the Dark Arts." Full understanding burst into his mind with little happy streamers and confetti. He found himself grinning like a loon and kissing her all over her face, while she laughed and kissed him back. 

"You are coming back to Hogwarts." He breathed out, feeling knots loosen from about his heart.

"Yes, I am coming back to Hogwarts." She answered and placed a kiss on the tip of his nose.

"Good, because people were starting to think that the Defense post was cursed." He was giddy with delight and sat down at the table in front of his coffee. Kathryn plunked down beside him and Severus caught Albus smiling with a deeply contented look. "What did you have to promise the Americans to get Kathryn back?" He asked, suddenly curious. Of course, he would pay anything to have his lover by his side but he liked to know the price.

"I had to promise to attach her to the Order." Albus replied with an airy wave and Severus wondered how that was a benefit to the Americans. "Now, we should all get ourselves off to Diagon Alley while we are here. I am sure that we all have plenty of shopping to do," Albus was doing his Father Christmas impersonation, all jolly smiles and sparkling eyes. Severus was instantly alarmed.

"What's your ulterior motive?"

"I think it is time for you to be seen with Kathryn and Ryan in a more public place." Albus was watching him closely from over the rim of his half-moon spectacles.

"Why?"

"I would like Voldemort to see that Kathryn has returned to you and accepts the baby."

"Do you accept the baby?" He turned and caught a look of surprise on her face.

"Of course, why wouldn't I?"

"Because he is Bellatrix Lestrange's son."

"He is your son, Severus. I would love him for that, even if he wasn't cute as a button." She was grinning at him with an amused glint in her eyes but he could see no subterfuge in her. He relaxed a little more inside knowing that she was okay with Ryan. He didn't know that he could have stood having to choose between them.

"You're being an idiot again, aren't you?" She teased and kissed his cheek softly.

A tiny wailing started up and Kathryn was out the door and gone before he could even drag himself to his feet.

"When did she get so fast?" Severus marveled.

"Since you fixed her leg and she got back into training." Albus chuckled.

Remus and Tali wandered into the room in search of the teapot and some sugar. Tali smiled sweetly at Severus and he nodded in return. 

She had bloomed over the last few months, growing in confidence and poise. Remus had grown stronger and more confident as well, as though apart they had been half a person each and now, together, they were far more than the sum of their parts. Remus even looked younger and less ragged.

Kathryn joined them a moment later, carrying a happily drooling Ryan, who she cooed at with an expression of pure adoration. 

"Who's my little man?' She gurgled and nuzzled the child, who waved a tiny fist in joyful agreement. "Who's my honey bear?" A little bubble of spit might have been an answer, but Kathryn wiped it away with a corner of the blanket she had wrapped around him.

"That is going to be the most spoiled child ever to walk the earth." Remus said with amusement. "Molly treats him like a little prince and Kathryn is wrapped around his finger so tight, she'll never get free."

"His father is rather doting as well." Tali said softly, with a shy glance as Severus.

"I doubt he'll be spoiled." Kathryn shook her head at Remus. "However, he will know that he is the most loved baby to ever walk the earth." 

Severus reached for his son and Kathryn relinquished him with some reluctance. There was a very specific scent to a baby, a combination of sour milk, baby powder and something primal that roused his protective instincts. His son grabbed at his finger and Severus inserted it into the infant grasp. Ryan made a soft noise like a gurgle and clung tight to the pale digit.

"So, Diagon Alley?" Kathryn reminded him.

"As you say, there are things we need to buy." He was running low on formula and some more nappies would be necessary soon. 

"Like a sling." Kathryn mused absently.

"A what?" He peered at her curiously.

"A baby sling -- you can't carry him all the time, your arms will fall off." She said with assurance and as if he would naturally understand.

"You will have to show me, Kathryn, I haven't a clue what you are on about."

Diagon Alley was crammed to bursting with people. The summer was drawing to a close and the August sun was informing people that fall was coming hard upon its heels. The shops were already filling with 'Back to Hogwarts' specials and Severus found himself being dragged to portions of the Alley he had never imagined going to before.

He was dragged into a yellow brick store with gleaming windows and an interior décor that made Severus think the pastel fairy had exploded all over it. There were cutesy displays of baby things and miniature couches for the wee ones to perch on, all done in shades that would make Mother Nature horribly ashamed. 

The Widdle Wizard and Witch, a disgustingly precious name that nauseated Severus, stocked all the baby necessities and had a sling in stock that Kathryn bought with a happy smile. She handed the baby off to Tali and adjusted the loop of fabric to encircle Severus's torso at a diagonal. He watched with interest as she slipped Ryan into the sling, adjusting it carefully and leaving him with both arms free. 

"Ingenious." He muttered when she was done. Her hands were confidant and quick when she handled the baby. She was quite a wonder. He bought more nappies and formula, glaring fiercely at the young witch behind the counter who had been a particularly bad Potions student he recalled. A Hufflepuff -- what was her name? Ah yes. "Good day, Miss Terrell" He nodded as he took his change and watched with satisfaction as she blanched. Kathryn rolled her eyes and smiled at the young woman but Severus swept from the horrible little shop with relief.

He found himself being towed with Tali and Remus through other baby shops, where small purchases were made to add to the child's growing wardrobe, and then to Madam Malkin's for Kathryn to buy some new school robes. Kathryn also quietly dropped some Galleons on Remus and Tali when Remus' back was turned. Severus was impressed at how easily her training could be twisted to help out a friend. When had he started thinking of Lupin as a friend?

Unlike other women he had been shopping with, most notably Narcissa who could try on everything in a store and still not know what she wanted, Kathryn was decisive and didn't linger over her purchases. She marched in, found what she wanted, bought it and left. Soon they found themselves at Flourish and Blott's and they were quickly sucked into the stacks. Here her swiftness was undone as the two of them browsed happily, heads together, over various volumes that interested them. 

Remus had been dragged off to Florean Fortesque's by Tali, who had developed an addiction to ice cream.

"Professor Snape?" Severus turned around to meet Draco Malfoy's interested gaze. "Professor Leblanc!" Any further speech was halted by the sight of the baby sling and its wriggling occupant. Draco's mouth went round as he gazed at the baby. It was Draco's first sight of his baby cousin. Draco had shot up another inch or so over the summer, he was now getting close to Kathryn's height, though he had a while to go before he reached Severus'.

"Mr. Malfoy." Kathryn smiled at him and looked around. She spotted Narcissa and waved her over brightly. Let the games begin, thought Severus grimly, exchanging a knowing look with Draco.

"Kathryn, darling!" Narcissa drifted over and smiled with tooth-aching sweetness at the adorable picture they must make. "And this must be little Orion! Oh isn't he precious? You are so lucky, Severus, he doesn't look at all like you!" Kathryn ground her teeth beside him and Draco rolled his eyes behind his mother's back. Severus merely gave a small smile. Narcissa then turned to Kathryn. "What brings you back to England, my dear?"

"I am going to be teaching at Hogwarts again this year." Kathryn replied and Severus watched as Draco grinned broadly and pumped his arm up and down. He did all this carefully out of Narcissa's line of sight.

"Really? How lovely!" Narcissa's eyes were speculative and Severus could see her tiny little mind trying to figure out how to react. She flipped a wave of black hair off her shoulder in a gesture designed to show off her diamond pendant and earrings. Her sapphire robes and understated hat, also blue with a small sparrow pinned to it that magically fluttered, were tasteful and elegant. Kathryn looked so smart in her pantsuit and black robes though, that she made Narcissa seem gaudy and posed in comparison. 

"I quit my other job and decided to stay on at Hogwarts permanently." Kathryn tucked an arm into Severus' and leaned against him lightly, batting her eyelashes at Narcissa. They surely made for a very domestic scene. Severus watched as thoughts ticked slowly over in Narcissa's brain.

"Oh, how terribly sweet!" Narcissa smiled and was distracted by a clerk bringing her some more choices and a cup of tea. She drifted away to do some more shopping.

"Welcome back, Professor." Draco nodded to her, with eyes dancing.

"Thank you, Mr. Malfoy. I hope you have kept up with your studies over the summer; I would hate to see you do poorly this year." Kathryn was using her best teacher's voice, but her eyes were filled with mischief. 

"Not to worry, Ma'am."

"Oh and Malfoy, could we please win the house cup this year?" Severus muttered with some annoyance. It was getting old, this coming within a handbreadth of winning and then having it whisked away from them.

"I think you'd be better off waiting until after Potter graduates." Draco whispered to him and Severus was forced to admit that he was probably right about that.

A large pile of books found their way into Kathryn's shopping basket and soon they were purchased, shrunk, tucked into a pocket, and Kathryn and Severus were on their way home.

"Narcissa will report the whole thing immediately so no need to linger." Severus commented as they stepped through the front door of the Leaky Cauldron and entered Muggle London. 

A short while later, they were back at Grimmauld Place and Ryan was being settled down to sleep. Kathryn went downstairs to start lunch and Severus stood, just watching Ryan sleep. Ryan was becoming his favorite spectator sport.

Severus noticed a pair of bright eyes studying him from under the couch.

"Good afternoon, Kreacher." Severus was always polite to the house elf -- first off because he was a pathetic thing who had been shat on by Blacks for even longer than Severus had been; secondly, because he had the twisted house elf to thank for finally doing in Sirius Black. For that alone, he would love the little homunculus forever. Done in by his own house elf, the amusement value was priceless.

"Good afternoon, Master Severus." The filthy, ragged thing pulled itself from under the couch and stared at where Severus was standing over the baby. "How is Miss Bellatrix's baby?" Severus started and looked down at the house elf in surprise. Not only did the creature rarely talk to him, he wasn't sure it had been sane enough to form a question coherently.

"Quite well."

"He's the last of the Blacks if Miss Bellatrix doesn't have another; the last one, and he'll be raised to be a blood traitor because there aren't any more like my poor Mistress. How she would scream if she knew." Kreacher shook his head and sighed, his muttering voice deep and frog-like.

"I hadn't realized, Kreacher, but you are correct." Severus looked at his son and realized that when he reached his majority he would likely be the inheritor of the family name and titles. 

"He's Lord Black, he is, yes, the mistress would want him to be cared for right. At least he's pureblood, yes, that is good, and not a stinking half-blood like nasty Master Sirius would have foisted on her." Severus nodded. So he had been right about that girl Sirius had liked. 

"He is pure and he will be raised well, Kreacher." Severus watched the wizened elf stomp away, still muttering and swearing. He knew that Ryan would not be raised well by Kreacher's standards, but he would be taught to be proud of his heritage. The Snapes were ancient, if not as high ranking as the Blacks.

Sirius, of course, had left no will, unprepared and shortsighted as he was. The entire Black estate had gone to the three cousins: Bellatrix, Narcissa and Andromeda. Narcissa and Bellatrix had been disqualified because of their connections to the Death Eaters and Andromeda had produced only a female child, Nymphadora, so while Andromeda and Nymphadora could share in the wealth and keep the house, they could not inherit the titles or anything attached to the Entail of the estate which was stipulated to go to only a male of the line. Andromeda had passed on the house; her memories of her time there not conducive to fond recollections, so technically Tonks owned it.

Tonks had accepted it on the understanding that as soon as it was safe to do so she was selling it. Her dislike of the Black side of the family extended to the house. Severus wondered if she would sell it to him, for Ryan. It was his ancestral home as well, it seemed.

That Severus Snape's son could stand to inherit Sirius Black's honors and dignities made him want to laugh. The irony was really quite delicious.


	5. Why Me Lord?

Chapter 5 – Why Me Lord?

Kathryn wandered into the living room to be met by a very odd sight. Tonks, with her hair long and black, was twitching spasmodically and gyrating to the sounds of the Weird Sisters. It couldn't be called dancing, really, more like falling and catching yourself rhythmically. The living room had been cleared for this exercise, the burgundy couches pushed back, leaving the Persian carpet free for Tonks' dancing feet. The mahogany furniture had been buffed, polished and reupholstered, but not replaced. It was pretty once the dark accumulation of years had been peeled from it.

Tali sat in one of the beige chairs with a polite smile nailed to her face and Remus looked utterly blank from his perch on the couch. 

"This album is so much better than their last one." Tonks called out as she went into what looked like an epileptic seizure. "The lyrics are so deep. I mean, 'Baby you're mellow, baby you're yellow, little bird fellow, don't fly away.' I mean isn't that just the most amazing thing you've ever heard?"

Kathryn met Tali's eyes from across the room and they exchanged an appalled look. Remus' lips twitched as he caught their expressions and Kathryn realized he was fighting not to laugh. Kathryn was tempted to stop the music and begin a de-programming regime on Tonks, but held herself back by counting to twenty, very, very slowly.

"I prefer Muggle Rock music; the Wizarding World's version is a little too derivative for me." Kathryn said, with a blank expression to match Remus' own.

Tonks was incensed by Kathryn's comments and looked ready to launch herself into a defense of her favorite band, but Kathryn was rescued by Severus' entrance on the scene.

"What is that infernal racket?" He snarled his terrifying bat image only slightly less effective with Ryan's baby sling hindering the proper flapping of his black robes.

"The Weird Sisters." Tali informed him in a pained murmur.

Severus waved his wand imperiously and the music cut off with a squawk. He glared at Tonks until she was reduced to gibbering incoherence and then swept from the room, cloak aflutter along with Kathryn's heart.

"How can you stand him?" Tonks swung on Kathryn with both fists clenched at her side.

Kathryn sauntered over to Tonks, leaned forward and whispered in her ear. "He's a demon in the sack and can get it up within ten minutes of coming." She smiled into Tonks' horrified face. "I also happen to love him." She watched as the girl colored up and Kathryn let her stew for a moment before standing straight and sighing. "You know, we are all on the same side and I hate bickering. So, can we call a truce here?"

Tonks was so flustered by the contradictory emotions that were going through her that she had nodded her agreement before she quite knew what she was agreeing to. Keep them off balance, Kathryn thought, and they will never be able to mount an effective offense or prepare an effective defense. That reminded her -- she needed to be sure to include both Sun Tzu and Klausewitz in the seventh year curriculum. Rommel's book on tank combat might not be a bad idea either.

She abandoned Tali and Remus to Tonks' depredations without a single qualm and went looking for her favorite Potions Master.

She found him in the kitchen, pouring himself more coffee and chatting with Arthur Weasley, who had just come in from work.

"Yes." He was saying to Arthur. "We leave tomorrow for Hogwarts and honestly, I cannot wait to get away from Tonks' idea of music."

"Wait 'til Ryan gets older; the kids always drove me mad with the crazy stuff they were listening to." Arthur warned with a genial smile. Severus rolled his eyes and Kathryn smiled at both of them and made her way to the well-scrubbed wooden table.

She watched the two men interacting, discussions of fatherhood and sleepless nights. She wondered if Severus had ever had someone before to talk to like this growing up, just a man-to-man discussion of daily life -- a friend. She was constantly amazed by how disparate they were in appearance, and yet there was, despite the differences in background and experience, a strange kinship under the skin. They were both fighting with all their soul and heart for what they believed in, they both were fiercely protective of hearth and home, and they both cared little for politics or what other people thought of them. 

With a wave of her wand, tea was poured, sugared, creamed, and floated to her hand. She sipped meditatively and watched the discussion evolve from diapers to discipline. The niggling insecurity Severus felt about fatherhood was being dispelled by Arthur's experienced advice. His quiet assurance and supreme confidence in Severus' abilities to 'manage' did much to bolster the new father.

"So when he goes to Hogwarts will you snark at him as well?" Ryan's name was already down in the book for Hogwarts so there was no doubt in anyone's mind, the boy would be attending. 

"If I am still teaching, he will be treated like any other student during school hours." And totally doted upon when those hours are up, Kathryn thought with some amusement.

"Why wouldn't you still be teaching?" Arthur asked perplexed.

"I may not live that long, Arthur." Severus reminded him gently. Arthur's face fell and he looked somewhat lost. "Which reminds me, I have created a will. I have stipulated that if anything happens to Kathryn and myself, you and Molly are to take custody of Ryan." 

Arthur's jaw dropped in shock. 

"Severus!" He stared at the lean, black-clad man in dismay.

"If it will put you out…"

"Of course not, we would be more than happy. It's just that surely there are people closer to you?"

"Not that I would trust with a child, Arthur. My parents did poorly enough by me; no need to cause Ryan an equal amount of distress." Severus tossed the comment off lightly, but Arthur picked up the subtext of 'wild dingoes will gnaw my entrails before those people raise my son' and he nodded. 

"I see." Arthur said.

At that moment a large portion of the Weasley clan descended. Fred and George came through the kitchen, dressed in neon bright robes, arguing vociferously with Molly about the merits of their joke shop versus Zonko's, while Molly bemoaned their occupation. Ginny and Ron, in far more sedate jeans and t-shirts, came in on their wake, rolling eyes and sighing aggrievedly, bored by the ongoing disagreement.

The Weasley offspring came to a stunned halt as Severus turned from the stove, Ryan suddenly visible, wriggling happily in his sling. Molly had apparently not mentioned the baby to them, though she pounced on the infant, cooing.

"Oh what a wonderful idea! That sling works wonders; how I wished they had had them when mine were still in arms." Molly exclaimed. "Who's my little darling?" She tickled Ryan under the chin and he kicked happily, pleased to be the center of attention.

The kids edged forward in wide-eyed shock, eyeing Severus as though he was likely to eat the baby in front of them.

"It was Kathryn's suggestion, actually." Severus remarked dryly, finding the twins' wide-eyed amazement, Ginny's look of wonderment and Ron's look of horror, to be amusing.

"Professor Leblanc!" Ginny and Ron chorused, spotting her seated at the table.

"Mr. Weasley, Miss Weasley." She smiled complacently and sipped her tea.

"Are you visiting?" Ron asked simultaneously to Fred and George's exclamation. "That's your old DADA teacher? Much prettier than the last one." While Ron pelted her with questions, Fred and George attempted to flirt with her. 

"I am returning to teach at Hogwarts next year." She informed Ron and he whooped in joy.

Ginny, in the meantime, approached Severus and peered into the sling to see the baby. With a soft sigh of wonder, she gave a finger to black-haired infant and let him grab it.

"He's so little." She murmured in awe. "He's beautiful, Professor Snape." She grinned up at Severus and he looked around to make sure no one but Kathryn would be watching, then he gave her a small smile and tugged a lock of her red hair.

"He is rather nice, isn't he?" Severus agreed, sotto voce.

"Quite." Ginny returned in like manner and giggled softly. Kathryn hid her own smile at the scene, not wanting to draw attention to it. Ron was still rather untrusting of his Potions Professor and Fred and George were too likely to make fun.

Severus raised an eyebrow at where the twins were still jostling for Kathryn's attention and then strode forward nudging them out of the way and seating himself beside her with his cup of coffee.

"Kathryn is taken." His tone brooked no opposition and the twins gave up with shrugs and went on to pester their mother for lunch. Ron settled into the chair across from them with Ginny beside him. The seventeen-year-old boy nodded at the baby.

"So, may I ask where he came from?"

"Well, Mr. Weasley, if your own father has failed to inform you of the facts of life, far be it for me to enlighten you." Severus waved an airy hand and Ginny snickered.

"I meant, who are his parents?" Ron ground out.

"He's my son, Mr. Weasley." Severus turned his head to look at Arthur and ignored the stunned expression on Ron's face. Kathryn sighed; she could see that Severus was going to be prickly and undiplomatic about this.

"There are classified aspects to this, Mr. Weasley." Ron paled at that and stood up suddenly with a look of horror and revulsion.

"Oh my God! Who did you rape, Snape? Which one of those poor kidnapped girls, you bastard!" Ron's shout brought the other presents members of the Order running and Kathryn grabbed Severus' hand swiftly.

"Shut up, Ron!" Arthur shouted his son down and Ron turned to his father in shock.

"You knew! You knew he was a bloody rapist?" Ron was florid and screaming now, shaking a finger at Snape with fury.

"I said shut up! You don't know what you are talking about!" Arthur was red as well, with embarrassment for Ron's behavior.

"His mother is Bellatrix Lestrange and I didn't rape her, although I was ordered to father this child." Severus' voice was nearly a whisper and he had wrapped a protective arm around his son. Ryan, distressed by the shouting and tension, began to cry. 

"That's disgusting!"

Severus rose swiftly and cradling his son tenderly stalked from the room.

"You ignorant brat." Kathryn hissed. "You judgmental narrow-minded …" Kathryn tapered off, unwilling to say everything she wanted to in front of Molly and Arthur who were staring at their youngest son in red-faced silence. "How many times does he have to cut himself open and bleed for you before it's enough!" 

The looks of embarrassment on the faces of the Order members and Arthur and Molly's obvious shame combined to drive Kathryn from the room after Severus.


	6. Facing Facts

Chapter 6 – Facing Facts

Severus went to his room and cuddled his son against his chest. He walked him back and forth, trying to calm his frantic cries. What right did that adolescent brat have to judge him? How many times had he saved the ungrateful little larva's life? How dare he make such assumptions? Those assumptions being, of course, were the very same ones that everyone would make when he showed up at the school with Ryan.

Severus sat down hard on the couch and curled up in a fetal position with his son, who whimpered against his chest. The need to protect Ryan from pain was overwhelming and his inability to do so was tearing him apart. What made him think that this would be easy? Why did he think he could waltz in with Ryan and there would be easy acceptance of the boy? Hadn't his entire life taught him that people were always prepared to believe the worst?

He could see his child's life stretching before him: a long road of rejection and disgust. His son was doomed by accident of birth before he had even spoken his first word.

Kathryn entered the room and her hand began to stroke his face gently and tenderly.

"Severus?" She slid an arm around him and laid her head upon his shoulder. "Don't torture yourself, love. He's just an ignorant boy." Her soft words trickled down into the pit of despair he had crawled into and that, along with Ryan's little hiccupping whimpers, were the final incentive to uncurl. 

Kathryn took Ryan from his arms and carried him to the shelf where the bottles stood in soldierly rows. She plucked one down and began to feed Ryan who suckled gently, in between giving little shuddery cries.

"There are a lot of ignorant people, Kathryn." He buried his head in his hands and tried to ignore the sound of Molly Weasley screaming at her youngest son.

"Most of them can have House Points deducted." She pointed out with a gentle smile at him. He laughed softly and raised his head to look at the woman he loved.

"I don't know what I would do without you."

"Well, you will never have to find out, so stop worrying. Don't destroy yourself for something you have no control over." She shifted the baby to her other arm. "We will raise Ryan to be strong and confidant, to know he is loved and wanted. We will give him the best life we can, Severus, but there is a limit to what we can do."

"I don't want him to suffer the kind of adolescence that I suffered."

"I don't think we can determine what kind of adolescence he will have. All we can do is love him and teach him as best we can." 

"This is where I bow to your greater experience." Severus sighed and gave in. She was obviously not going to let him wallow in misery, so he might as well cheer up. She was relentless and there simply wasn't a way to outlast her; like a terrier she just held on until you gave in.

"Good. Your capitulation is duly noted." She gave him a mischievous smile and turned all her attention to the baby. She soon had him burped, changed and set down for a nap, all with practiced efficiency. Severus marveled at the sure, confident way she moved around the nursery.

"I am very glad that I have two experts in the field to teach me." He gave her a lopsided smile and she dropped onto the couch beside him and proceeded to kiss him senseless.

He was considering slipping into the bedroom with her when there came a knocking on the door. Kathryn sighed gustily in frustration.

"Damn it, just when I was going to have my way with you!" She grumbled and stood up, straightening her clothes.

"Funny, I was going to have my way with you." He murmured seductively into her ear.

"You and your damn voice." She muttered, looking flustered.

"Enter." He called and the door opened to admit Hermione Granger and Harry Potter. He groaned and rolled his eyes, but Kathryn gave a happy cry and hugged the Potter boy and Miss Granger with joy. 

Potter had shot up too; he was still shorter than Draco, but clearly taller than he had been in June. His clothes consisted of an oversized sweatshirt, trainers and jeans that hung on him like a circus tent. Granger was neatly dressed in skirt and tank top, barelegged and wearing a pair of strappy sandals; Severus suspected that considering how she had developed over the summer, Weasley was in for some competition this year. Her bushy brown hair was pulled into a tail at the back of her head and she sparkled with good health, unlike Potter who looked half-starved and ill.

"I am so glad to see you both!"

"Mrs. Weasley says you'll be teaching again this year!" Hermione was bouncing with joy. "I learned so much last year, I can't wait to see what you'll teach us next!"

"What about the bindings?" Harry asked cutting across Hermione's exuberant glee.

"All taken care of." Kathryn shot Severus a sideways look and gave Harry a nervous smile. Severus watched as Harry gave her a puzzled glance. "So how was your summer?" It was a transparent attempt to change the subject.

"What bindings?" Severus growled. Hermione, who had wandered through the room to look at the books, was now drawn to the bassinet.

"Whose baby is this?" She asked. "He's adorable."

"He's my son. What bindings, Kathryn?"

"Oh Severus, it's nothing." 

"Your son?" Harry squeaked and went to look at Ryan as he slept.

"It's not 'nothing' or you wouldn't be avoiding the subject. Yes, my son."

"He's cute." Harry commented and stroked the baby's face softly. "I'm sorry, Sir." Potter's words brought Severus around abruptly.

"For what?"

"For whatever you had to go through to get him." Potter was looking up at him with Lily's clear eyes and he found himself stilled inside by the impulsive kindness of the boy as well as his insight. 

"He is not at fault for my mistakes." Severus said softly and hardly noticed Hermione's gasp of dismay. 

"No, Sir, he's himself; he's not his parents." Severus reeled from the blow, so gently delivered.

"Touché, Mr. Potter." His voice was far gentler than he had ever used with James' son and Harry was looking at him with something akin to understanding. It was unnerving to be so in accord with the boy. He had carried his grudges for so long that they seemed a part of him. He still hated James and Sirius, but perhaps Harry could be spared, even as he hoped Ryan could be spared the legacy of Severus' mistakes.

"What is his name, Sir?" Hermione asked.

"Orion." Hermione smiled at the name, but Harry stiffened and stared at him with dawning understanding.

"Narcissa or Bellatrix?" He asked softly.

"Bellatrix." Severus sighed.

"I will remember that he is Sirius' cousin and forget who his mother is." Harry choked out, as though he were commanding himself.

"Right now she is an insane vicious beast, Mr. Potter, but she was kind when she was little. I hope that nurture, not nature, was responsible for her transformation." Hermione had finally put two and two together and was looking at the baby rather sadly.

"I take it that she didn't want him?"

"I want him, Miss Granger; it will have to be enough." Hermione nodded and Harry gave him a wry smile.

"I'm sure it will be, Professor." Harry Potter's vote of confidence was both disturbing to receive and very welcome. The coming year would be very interesting indeed.


	7. Hogwarts

Chapter 7 – Hogwarts

Albus had set up the rooms so that a secret staircase led from Kathryn's chambers to Severus' dungeons. This allowed her to come and go un-remarked by the student body. Ryan changed the equations between Severus and Kathryn; his needs dictated their interactions. They slept in Severus' dungeons now, so that one of them could always rise and feed him in the wee early hours of the morning. The house elves took care of him during classroom hours. Winky was beside herself with glee to have a child to care for. But evenings were spent together, with the baby, and the exhaustion of caring for Ryan cut into their sex life.

Ryan's naptimes were their only opportunity to make love now and they had to keep quiet while they were doing it for fear of waking the baby. Silence charms got a workout, though Severus was searching for a one-way spell that would at least let him hear Kathryn's cries and moans. It would have been frustrating, but Kathryn decided to turn it into a game: how much could she tease him before he cried out and how much control could they maintain without the charms.

The week before classes started was interesting for Kathryn; she had missed the preparation time last year and discovered that the camaraderie of the staff was forged during this week. Poppy and Pomona Sprout were more accessible when neither was concerned for either student health or the potential destruction of beloved plants. Minerva was relaxed and rather funny. Kathryn had been unaware of just how witty she could be. Minerva's pithy comments on Fudge and her dead-on impersonation of him had the table in stitches. {I changed my mind – you get to play Kathryn in the movie; I want to be Minerva}

There was also the fact that now that she had agreed to stay on for more than just the year there was added incentive for the staff to get to know her. Last year she was a raw recruit, a temporary figure, due to be gone and replaced; this year she was a veteran returned to the wars and ready for the long haul. She was one of them now. Even Argus Filch treated her with a tiny bit of respect whereas he ignored her completely last year. Sinistra even came down from her tower to eat with them all, something she hardly ever did during the school year, preferring to remain cloistered near to her telescopes. Kathryn found Sinistra to be a fascinating character, all eagle-eyed sharpness mixed with a complete disregard for anything on the earth.

Also, the small round table where they dined allowed for far more intimate conversation than the long High Table did. Kathryn found herself laughing and happy during the meals. Plus she and Severus could be open about their affection. During the school year, discretion was the rule, and honestly, Kathryn was not eager to broadcast the relationship to the students just so they could gossip about it.

Still, the lunch hour was now much more interesting as Kathryn would whisper naughty suggestions to Severus while he was eating. He, in turn, would ask for food to be passed in a low sexy voice that turned her to goo and even made Hooch raise an eyebrow. The playfulness of their relationship seemed to surprise most of the staff; only Albus and Minerva, who had been privy to the intimate life of the two teachers, were unfazed.

Hooch looked bemused, Poppy was alternately smug and taken aback, Sprout was perplexed, Filius stunned and Hagrid rather oblivious. Vector studied them as though they were an interesting equation and smiled occasionally for no apparent reason. Minerva still acted as though she had invented the couple and Albus, who had some right to it to be honest, looked very well satisfied with himself. Trelawney, of course, said that her inner eye had seen them together some time ago and that it was tragic that their love was doomed. Sinistra was so wrapped up in her own thoughts that she didn't seem to notice, involved as she was in her star charts, even at the table.

It was Madam Pince who frowned and disapproved. Irma seemed to be personally offended by laughter and enjoyment and took Severus' defection from misery as a personal betrayal. She pursed her lips every time Severus gave even the tiniest smile and Kathryn's open affection for him made her tsk and tut. Everyone else ignored her, so Kathryn followed their lead and was simply polite instead of friendly to the older woman.

Ryan, at breakfast and dinner, was passed from person to person, cooed at and petted and generally spoiled and adored. He soaked it up like a sponge, waving chubby hands and burbling happily as he was admired. Albus' beard was a particular source of fascination and was grabbed rather often. Albus seemed to think that this was quite delightful. Firenze gave new meaning to 'horsing about' with Ryan. He seemed quite fascinated by the two-legged infant who couldn't walk. The sight of him with the baby sling over one shoulder was one Kathryn knew she would chuckle over for years. 

Classes were prepared for, classrooms cleaned, organized and stocked, and the days wound down finally to the day of the student's arrival.

Minerva patted her hair a great deal, full of nervous energy, eager and excited. Albus beamed even more genially and the rest of the staff girded themselves once more for the battle to inculcate young minds. 

Severus was nervous as a cat, terrified of what the student's reaction to Ryan would be. He constantly argued for just hiding the baby in his quarters and not letting anyone know. Kathryn pointed out that Ryan would have to leave his rooms eventually and better to just get it out of the way while Ryan was pre-verbal. 

As evening fell, Kathryn pulled on a rich burgundy dress with silver trim and threw her black teaching robe on top. She made sure her bun was firmly back in place and that she had a properly stern teacher's look on her face. She swept from her rooms with a firm gait and the speed and swiftness she had regained. Her left leg moved smoothly and painlessly as she strode through the hall, down the stairs and into the Great Hall. 

The evening's rain and wind was reflected in the ceiling and she felt a twinge of pity for the first-years crossing the lake tonight. The teachers, all prim, proper and over the hangovers from last night's party, were filing in and she was caught in Severus' arms for one last quick kiss before they fell once more into their roles. She was a trifle flushed as she sat; Hooch barked a laugh and punched Severus on the shoulder as she passed him to her own seat. Severus winced, but didn't snarl at the other woman as Kathryn had half-expected.

The students began to file in, many catching sight of Kathryn. They waved and bounced in enthusiasm, and she waved back, happy to see them again. Minuet's huge smile was very welcome and Kathryn was warmed through by the obvious affection that many of the students had developed for her.

Harry and Hermione came in together with Ron trailing behind them a few steps, his face stormy. Ah, seventeen -- not an easy year.

"Mr. Weasley is going to be a problem this year." Severus muttered grimly to her as the trio settled themselves down at the table.

"Hermione will handle him." Kathryn returned softly. Severus' eyebrow went up and he smirked.

"Lies the wind in that quarter? I didn't know she was so formidable." 

"There are few boys ready to stand up to her at this school; hadn't you noticed?"

"I make it a policy to ignore my students whenever possible." It was a statement designed to provoke, so Kathryn merely rolled her eyes.

Minerva appeared at the door with the crowd of frightened first-years behind her and the room fell quiet. Albus placed the Sorting Hat on a stool and then retreated back behind the table.

Minerva marched the first-years forward, pulled a scroll from her sleeve and looked sternly at the children from over the rims of her square spectacles. She turned to the hat expectantly, arms crossed and parchment dangling.

The slit in the tattered Hat opened and then the Sorting Hat began to sing:

You come before me to be seen

To be sorted you are keen

Into your mind I will look

And I will read you like a book

Are you a Slytherin clever and sly?

Are you a Hufflepuff gentle and shy?

Are you a Gryffindor bold and brave?

Are you a Ravenclaw smart and grave?

The founders four did me create

To sort you all both small and great

To do their will is what I must

Generations after they are dust

There was a mournful note to the last stanza and Kathryn wondered how the Hat felt about its task. Last year's warning song was rather martial but this year's song was almost melancholy. Could a hat get melancholy? Minerva cleared her throat and addressed the nervous eleven-year-olds.

"Now when I call your name, step forward. I will place the Sorting Hat on your heads and you will be sorted into your Houses." The children stared at her wide-eyed and nervous. "Abercrombie, Zechariah?"

A skinny boy with a wild shock of brown hair stumbled forward and sat down.

"Ravenclaw!" The Hat pronounced after a moment of consideration and so it went. The last student, Vindex, Hestia, was sorted into Slytherin, to the sound of Kathryn and Severus' clapping. With that, the ceremony came to an end.

Albus rose and smiled sweetly at the assembled students.

"Another year has come and we have returned to Hogwarts again. For all who have been lost over the summer let us have a moment of silence." A great hush came over the Hall and students looked about at empty places and remembered the friends and family lost to the accelerating rate of Voldemort's attacks. 

"Now for some announcements. All students please remember that the Forbidden Forest is strictly forbidden. There is to be no hexing in the halls, and for those who might be interested, Mr. Filch's list of contraband now takes up two walls in the dungeon for your edification. Some of you may have noticed that we have managed to get our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher back." His last few words were drowned out by a happy cheer that went up. Kathryn rose and bowed to applause and then reseated herself. "Professor Leblanc has agreed to stay on permanently in the position…" Again he was drowned out, though he did not seem to mind. "Let the feast begin."

He clapped his hands and food appeared on the table, distracting the students immediately. Kathryn was touched by their warm welcome and she exchanged a happy smile with Minerva.

This was going to be quite a year.


	8. Non Omnis Moriar

Chapter 8 – Non Omnis Moriar

Severus departed from the Welcoming Feast with a sigh -- another year, another batch of new Slytherins. He made a leisurely journey down to the dungeons for he knew the older members of his house would be busy acquainting the younger ones with how things worked in Slytherin. He liked to give them time to thoroughly intimidate the first-years before he came in and finished the job.

He paused outside the Common Room door and listened to the sharp yelps and stuttering of the terrorized children. The older Snakes knew better than to harm any of the younger years; he did not tolerate actual abuse, but running a house full of arrogant, sneaky, strong-willed adolescents sometimes required rather draconian tactics. Speaking of whom, -- ah yes, there was Draco's voice, giving his own little speech.

"Slytherin House is for the elite of the Wizarding World. We aren't stupid show-offs like the Gryffindors, or cowardly quivering lumps like the Hufflepuffs, nor do we have our heads stuck in books like the Ravenclaws. 

We are the future leaders of our world; the politicians, the businessmen, the masters of all the others. Because of this, we do not tolerate mediocrity in this House. You will perform to the highest standards and you will NOT lose us House points." There was a pause and Severus wished he could see the stare Draco was giving the younger years.

"You will be respectful to all teachers, no matter how they behave towards us. Anyone who loses House points for us by talking back to a teacher will answer for it. Is all of that clear?" When the ragged murmurs of assent had been given, Severus slammed open the doors and stormed into the room, robes flapping and scowl firmly in place. 

The Common Room was a dark oppressive place, with a huge fireplace and windows that showed the underwater world of the lake. Fish swam by and occasionally the giant squid could be seen to float past. Salazar Slytherin had designed it to look impressive and grand and it succeeded admirably in that respect. It was, however, neither friendly nor welcoming. Over the centuries, little touches had been added by Heads of Houses, tapestries, paintings, comfortable couches, all in an attempt to soften the natural severity of the place. 

Severus liked the cold austerity of the room, but he had not stripped it down when he had taken over as Head of House; these homey touches served two purposes. They illustrated that the Slytherins were a façade of elegance and comfort over a stony reality of implacability and it lulled the more gentle of the students into imagining that there was some softness in the house and he chose to foster that illusion. It made them easier to handle with fewer emotional outbursts. 

In a secret part of his mind, he remembered the comfort he had taken as a trembling first year in the framed portraits and throw rugs, but that had nothing to do with his choice to leave them, of course.

He sneered at the assembled students and made Draco seem a gentle friend by comparison. Draco and Severus had the routine planned -- their discussions over the summer had led to what the Muggles would have called a 'good cop, bad cop' scenario. Severus would discipline and Draco would comfort. He planned to use Minuet for the job next year, after Draco graduated.

"So you are the sorry lot that Hat has saddled me with." Severus snarled at the first-years, who quailed in terror. He walked up the line, past the older years, nodding to the favored few that had earned the right to be acknowledged. They straightened and beamed as he passed them and he let his gaze pass over the unworthy, who slumped. 

He spun on his heel and swept down on the first-years again. "I am Professor Snape." He hissed at them. "I am your Head of House. You may think that being in Slytherin makes you special, but I am here to tell you that you are nothing until I am convinced you have some worth!"

Another quick spin, his robes snapping behind him as he moved, and he was standing before Draco. "Get them sorted out, Mr. Malfoy." With a parting sneer at the trembling children he swept from the room before he lost it and started to laugh, making sure he couldn't be heard as he leaned against the wall. Still chuckling, he slipped into his own quarters, activated the dormitory alarm spells and went to check on Ryan.

Winky was sitting quietly by the fire as Severus walked in. Albus had removed the chrome and glass furniture that Kathryn had put in and replaced it all with soft green leather couches and rounded tables in black lacquer. A plush carpet covered the floor in black and the room was accented with more Slytherin green and silver. It was baby-proofed with spells and charms that the Headmaster had cast himself.

Ryan was asleep in his bassinet, pink face turned up with an expression of heartbreaking sweetness. Severus leaned over the sleeping child and stroked a tiny fist with a tenderness he would allow few to witness.

"He went down for his nap alright?" Severus asked Winky softly; his gentle tone would have sent many of his Slytherins into shock.

"Yes Professor Sir, Winky fed him and changed his nappy as well. Master Ryan is a very good baby, Professor Sir, he never gives Winky any trouble." Winky blinked happily from her seat by the fire. Since Ryan's arrival she had had a complete reversal of personality; she had gone from hysterics and despair to a calm and happy creature. It was as though she was at peace only when she had a child to care for. Severus wondered if he could keep her supplied for a while.

Severus thought about the future; Kathryn had said she would marry him when the war was over. Would she want children with him? He was finding the whole baby thing strangely enjoyable and he still did want a daughter. Lisle had been so very dear and despite her lack of proper training, he had found himself allowing her liberties he had never allowed anyone. 

Children were softening him, easing the constriction around his heart. Kathryn had started the process with her trust and courtesy, but Ryan was doing things to him that he never imagined possible. He was becoming greedy for the moments he could spend with his son, the quiet interludes in his painful routine.

His arm began to burn gently and he bit back a curse. He told Winky to watch the baby and inform the Headmaster and he was away. He strongly resented the time away from his son but that would hardly be something he could complain about to Voldemort. 'Sorry, my Master, but your world domination will have to wait; I want to play with my son's toes.' The smile that graced his features briefly as he settled the mask on his face would have made Voldemort rather nervous. 

Severus calmed his mind, drawing on his years of Occlumency training to allow him to come before Voldemort in relative safety. The blind apparation found him in an underground chamber. Rough-hewn walls that looked as though they had been chipped from the stone by chisels and hammers, and a floor so smooth that only magic could have shaped it made for a strange juxtaposition. Water dripped from the walls and torches flickered. Voldemort was seated upon a stone throne as roughly made as the walls, with Pettigrew hunched beside him in the heavy shadows. Severus was the first to arrive and he moved forward, dropped and crawled to kiss the Dark Lord's hem.

"My Master." He murmured in a servile tone.

"Severus." Voldemort waved him back and Severus took his usual place, waiting for the others to come and form the rest of the circle. They arrived hurriedly, apparating in, making their obeisances to the Dark Lord and then taking their positions.

When the circle was complete and twenty Death Eaters stood at attention, waiting to spring to action at his command, Voldemort rose and walked through the circle.

"I have received grave news, my loyal servants. My second in America, the man known as the Wolf, has disappeared." There was some rustling of robes and shifting of feet, but no word was spoken by the circle. "I fear he has been killed by the Americans, though I cannot know for sure without a body." Voldemort gave a little shrug, as though it was of no importance. "Still, I will need someone to take over the American Project." He stalked among them, eyeing each in turn.

Severus had no concerns, as he was far too important in his position at Hogwarts to be removed. There were many here that would kill for the opportunity being presented though.

"Shiv you have been very loyal, as has Franco, but sadly I need you both here too much." Voldemort shook his head regretfully as the two men simply nodded, though their disappointment was palpable. "Travers, you have always served me faithfully and you are too well known here now. America is large enough to hide you and yet allow you to continue to serve The Cause." The older man bowed, his robes swishing with the movement.

Severus noted the information to pass on to the Order and waited for the real reason they had all been summoned. 

"I have acquired some new allies for us as well." 'Ah, here it comes,' Severus thought. The Dark Lord waved a hand and from the dim shadows behind the throne, three very peculiar people stepped forward.

The first was a tall cadaverous man with staring blue eyes and wispy blonde hair circling his head like a halo. He had the face of a priest and the hands of a surgeon, but his eyes were filled with the kind of hungry insanity one sees in rabid dogs. He was dressed not in robes, but in narrow black trousers, white shirt, dark green vest and a black frockcoat. There was the feel of a clerk or a shopkeeper about the outfit, except for the rich fabrics of the vest and heavy wool of the trousers. 

The second was a young girl, perhaps ten or eleven years old, with china doll features and golden ringlets; she was pale and perfect, from her starched white pinafore to her black-strapped shoes; she looked like a doll brought to life. Her eyes, also blue, were too bright and fevered for so young a girl and there was something very disturbing in how her gaze rested on you as though she was trying to decide whether to cook you or to eat you raw. She was like a dark and twisted Alice in Wonderland and he shivered at the sight of her.

The third was a plain-faced woman, with dun brown hair and flat brown eyes. She appeared so average, like any middle-aged house-witch, that her very normality made her seem horribly wrong in this setting. It was as if she had wandered from her kitchen in Brixton to the mouth of Hell. It was like Molly Weasley as a Death Eater.

"These three fine folk have agreed to help us in the coming war." What price did he pay for this, Severus wondered. These three radiated a strange dark power that was terrifying; if the Dark Lord thought he controlled them, he was very wrong. "We have struck a deal that pleases both sides." Voldemort exchanged a look of predatory satisfaction with the tall man. 

Ah, he has bargained with Dark powers -- this will turn out badly. Severus knew the ways of the Dark Ones and there was nothing they could give you that was worth the price asked for it. Voldemort's madness was worsening if he thought he could come out ahead in this.

"Mr. Fenchurch, Madam Gideon and Miss Mangle will be working closely with us. I hope you will all make them welcome." There was a ripple of nods and an uneasiness settled into the Death Eaters. Severus stayed perfectly calm and still but kept his gaze on Voldemort, trying not to look too long on the trio. The names were pseudonyms of course; Severus doubted they had real names at all, whatever they were. They were certainly not human, or not entirely so.

This was all very bad, very bad indeed.


	9. Lest Ye Forget

Chapter 9 – Lest ye forget

Two weeks later, Kathryn arrived at her chambers only to find Harry, Hermione and Ron waiting for her outside her door. With a smile she recited her new password, suggested by Severus.

"Varium et mutabile semper femina." Hermione choked back a protest and the boys just chuckled, getting an elbow each from their bushy-haired compatriot for their troubles. She passed them through to her office, where it was permitted to visit with the students after school hours. They were not generally allowed in the faculty's private rooms.

"Not all women are changeful and capricious!" Hermione sulked as she flung herself into one of Kathryn's chairs. With an amused glance at the seventeen-year-old girl's minor tantrum, Kathryn summoned tea and cakes for them.

"Not all? Do you think so?" Kathryn teased and Hermione rolled her eyes and relented.

"Most men are too, Hermione." Harry interjected with a grimace. Hermione chuckled and Ron just looked thoughtful.

"I dunno, girls are deeper than boys, I think. They look capricious 'cause they're thinking more." Ron's words drew all eyes to him and he flushed. "It's just what I've noticed." 

"I think the fact that girls mature faster is what is giving you that impression right now, Mr. Weasley. In a few years you may find the difference to have balanced out." Kathryn tucked her legs underneath her and curled into the chair quite contentedly, she had missed the round tower room over the summer.

"Dunno, Professor, Hermione's always gonna be smarter than me." Ron replied with perfect equanimity. He gave Hermione a proud and affectionate look as he said this and Kathryn caught an insight into what the clever and driven girl saw in the Quidditch-mad and less studious boy. His quiet acceptance would be irresistible to the socially awkward and outcast girl. He was secure enough in himself that her superior intellect was no threat to him. Kathryn filed the information away to think about later.

"So, what brings you three knocking on my door?"

"Ron's being difficult." Harry said with a sigh and Ron's face darkened.

"You all act like it's okay!" Ron protested.

"It's not okay, but it's not Professor Snape's fault and you can't treat him all horrible because of it." Hermione returned with the air of someone who has said the same thing over and over again.

"Ah, this is about Ryan, is it?" Kathryn asked gently, breaking into the argument before it could get started. Ron had his Prefect's badge on crooked, Kathryn noticed, while Hermione's Head Girl badge was perfectly straight. They were such a contrast at times.

"Yes Professor, Ron is insisting that Snape is a depraved monster." Harry rolled his eyes as he said this and Kathryn was not unaware of the irony inherent in the situation. Not too long ago, Harry would have agreed with Ron rather than Hermione.

"Voldemort is a depraved monster, Mr. Weasley, and to spy on him and save lives, Professor Snape has had to do things that are against his own conscience." Ron opened his mouth to speak, but Kathryn raised a hand, forestalling him. "It doesn't matter what you think about him -- like him, hate him, think whatever you like -- but when you speak to him, speak to him with respect because he ends up in the hospital wing time and time again just so you can live." Ron frowned and shrugged, unconvinced.

"Ron, he's not the enemy, Voldemort is and we need to concentrate our energies on defeating him." Hermione added with a long-suffering look at Harry.

"He slept with Bellatrix Lestrange! You know, the woman who killed Sirius! They probably laughed about it in bed!" Ron shouted.

"Mr. Weasley, please remember that I am in the room." Kathryn clamped down on the pain Ron's words caused her. She knew there had been no laughter, only pain and humiliation. But she couldn't tell that to a teenaged boy. She certainly couldn't tell the whole pitiful, unvarnished truth to Ronald Weasley, not without Severus' permission. Ron flushed to the roots of his hair as he remembered suddenly that Kathryn was dating Severus.

"Sorry, Professor." Ron apologized while Hermione dropped her face into her hands in embarrassment. Harry was watching Kathryn with that introspective look that she was starting to recognize.

"How bad was it, Professor?" He asked gently.

"I've seen him worse, but not by much." She admitted. She would never speak of Pansy Parkinson to anyone; she had left it out of her reports and hadn't spoken of it to another soul. Still, Harry seemed to sense something because he backed off the subject.

"Professor, I don't understand how you could be okay with this." Ron frowned.

"I'm not 'okay' with this, Mr. Weasley. But I knew it was coming and I knew it meant his life if he didn't." Ron's jaw dropped.

"His life?"

"What do you think happens to Death Eaters who disobey Voldemort?" Kathryn was impatient with the boy. Didn't he get it?

"Well, Harry told us he used "Cruciatus" on the ones he was mad at." Kathryn raised an eyebrow at the black-haired boy who just shrugged.

"I don't like talking about the stuff I have seen in Voldemort's mind. The Occlumency lessons Professor Dumbledore has been giving me have helped a lot, but I still get traces of stuff sometimes." Hermione and Ron were staring at Harry as though he had grown another head.

"You didn't tell us that!" Hermione returned in an aggrieved tone.

"I didn't want to worry you and it was just flashes. Things I couldn't figure out, like the thin guy and the china doll girl." His words chilled Kathryn to the core. She focused on breathing and not screaming at the boy.

"When did you see that, Harry?" Something must have leaked into her voice because he looked at her in sudden interest.

"They started showing up in flashes about three months ago." Harry was watching her closely and she took a deep breath trying to still her racing heart. "What are they?" His question proved his perceptiveness -- not 'who', but 'what'.

"There are powers far older than we, dark things that used to battle the Dragons and the Elves long ago. They are less powerful now, but still deadly and sly, very sly. They offer you everything and give you nothing." Her voice had dropped and she was remembering her friend, long gone now, and what she had bargained for and how she had suffered.

"You know what they are?" Hermione asked.

"No, I don't know what they are precisely. They are ancient evils and while a physical form will limit them severely, they are in reality formless, nameless and heartless." She shook her head. "If Moldywort has recruited them, he has called his own end down on himself, but the question is how many will he take down with him?" 

"That doesn't change the fact that what Snape did was wrong." Ron muttered.

"Of course it was wrong, Mr. Weasley." Kathryn rubbed her temples wearily, ignoring the look of shock on the redhead's face. "The world isn't simple, or black and white; sometimes you have to do something wrong if the alternative is to do something worse. Severus is the only spy we have in the Inner Circle. His life is too valuable to waste, he has to do what Voldemort tells him to so that he can come back here and tell us what Voldemort is doing."

"Even if that means raping people?" Ron demanded, but with less energy than before.

"Even if that means killing people, Mr. Weasley." She answered him with a quiet firmness that silenced him finally.

"This guy and the little girl, are they dangerous to us?" Harry asked, his eyes slitted half-closed in thought.

"They are far more dangerous in some ways than Voldemort, because Moldy has goals and desires that we can understand. The Dark Ones are incomprehensible to us. They want destruction, pain, suffering -- they feed on it; but they do things that are illogical and treacherous, and you may never know why."

The children were silent and Kathryn wondered if she had told them too much. Yet if they ran into the creatures, they had to know to be wary. They thanked her for her time and departed soon after and Kathryn went to her chambers to think.

She settled into the green velvet sofa with a cup of tea, and drifted back in time, her memory rewinding to a long-ago period in her life.

Many years ago, when she had been the youngest girl at Oxford Arcana, fourteen years old and so sure of herself and her intellect, she had learned the terrible truth. There are only two things that drive humanity: love and fear. Intellect, long her best weapon against the world, was useless against the tide of emotion the average person wallowed in.

Fear was what drove most people. Kathryn had watched as fear of pain, fear of rejection, fear of intimacy and all the other foolish agonies of University students had driven those around her to do stupid, misguided things again and again. She had been the outsider, the wunderkind that everyone ignored, so she had had a front row seat to the follies of the young adults around her.

Kathryn had watched and learned; she had her own fears, of course -- fear of failure, of disappointing her family -- but seeing the path of destruction that fears wrought in others, she began cultivating the cool control that had made her the woman she was today. Unlike her best friend and dorm mate, Elise, Kathryn grew stronger at Oxford Arcana, feeding on the academic pressures, using them to forge herself.

Not so Elise, who folded under pressure. Elise couldn't understand why she wasn't perfect at everything. Elise had been so spoiled and so petted all her life that she had no strength to fight her fears. Elise had been pretty, popular and horribly insecure. Kathryn had watched it start with the little spells -- make-up charms and glamours -- then it escalated to charms to attract, charms to retard aging. Convinced that her only worth was in her beauty, she pursued it with an obsessive need. After three years of University, while Kathryn was busily working her way through her second doctorate, Elise was almost unrecognizable. Kathryn had first seen the tall man not long after. He had given her the creeps, but Elise had leaned close to him as he whispered to her of beauty and desire. 

Elise was transformed completely by the end of the fourth year and while the boys all adored her with a strange madness and unsettling intensity, the girls were becoming increasingly jealous. Kathryn found herself avoiding the older girl and was relieved when she graduated, leaving Elise to whatever life she chose. It was not until Kathryn was in her fifth year as an Auror, twenty-one years old and already more experienced than most her age, that she ran into Elise again.

Sucked hollow by the thin man's magic, she burned with an eerie beauty, but it gave Kathryn the cold shudders. Elise had become a madam, running a brothel, controlling the girls with Dark Magic and feeding off the urges of the clientele and the pain and fear of the enslaved prostitutes. 

Kathryn had tried to bring her in alive, hoping to salvage something from the girl she had once known. It had taken five Aurors to finally bring her down and Elise had drained the life from ten of the prostitutes trying to save herself.

Kathryn learned to give no mercy to those who had dealings with the Ancient Dark.


	10. The Hopeless Hearts Club

Chapter 10 – The Hopeless Hearts Club

Minuet Ravagienne leaned back against the couch and sighed. Fauna had started the "Hopeless Hearts" club originally as a Draco Malfoy appreciation society, but it had rapidly come to encompass all the girls in school who were hopelessly in love with a boy they knew they could never have.

Set up in one of the countless little meeting rooms scattered about the school, this one near Ravenclaw tower contained a group of giggling girls who were gathered around on couches and chairs. They were a disparate crowd, mostly the lonely ones; overweight, spotty girls with no hope of finding a boyfriend while the prettier girls swanned about, but some were bright, pretty and perfectly capable of finding a boy -- they were just in love with someone else's boyfriend, or with Harry, or Draco.

Minuet had joined reluctantly and only because she wanted to stay Fauna's friend. Only Fauna knew about her feelings for Harry and Minuet wasn't about to tell anyone else, so she sat at the meetings commiserating with the other girls but remaining mostly silent.

There were many girls who liked Harry and it made Min feel even sillier listening to them go on about him. They obsessed over his eyes, his hair, or his courage, but Min thought about the way he had held her when he had pulled her back from the edge of the cliff. Min remembered his laughter when they were working on potions in Professor Snape's lab. She replayed his casual ease and his smile and the way his head tilted just so when he was listening to her. His thoughts and moods were her bread and meat. The other girls could go on about the boy-who-lived, but Min only thought about Harry.

"I just wish he liked me." Fauna was saying and even though Min had heard her say it a thousand times, there was something about it that worried her. There was something forlorn and yet somehow angry in Fauna's voice.

"He's going to marry Lilith, you know." Min mentioned for the thousandth time. Min had liked the bright-eyed Lilith. She had been funny and frank yet so elegant and worldly. Min could see Draco and Lilith presiding over the types of parties that Min's mother used to throw. She could see Lilith using all that sparkling wit and charm to Draco's advantage as well as her own. They would be a formidable pair.

"You don't know that!" Fauna protested angrily, tossing her blond curls angrily. 

"Uncle Severus says that Draco has made his bid already." Min had spent the summer with the Potions Master rather than at Snape Manor with her weeping mother. Her little sister had joined them, glad to be away from both Severus's parents and her mother. They had stayed at his cottage for two months, laughing and playing in the waves that lapped almost to the doorstep. She wished she were back there now.

Draco had visited often and Min had enjoyed the older boy's company. He really was like a brother and she was getting annoyed with all the people who thought they knew what was best for him.

"He could come to his senses!" The other girls sighed in romantic hazes of their own and Min got angry.

"He is doing both his duty and his own will. He is Slytherin; the advantages in marrying Lilith are obvious so why would he break off a bid and make an enemy of the Majere clan?" Minuet was from a very ancient family; the politics of the pureblood world were second nature to her. Fauna's ancestors were ancient and pure, but like the Weasleys they were practically yeoman stock.

"So you think I am not good enough to marry a Malfoy, is that it?" Fauna asked in a low dangerous voice, her cornflower blue eyes snapping.

"Fauny, come on, you know I don't think that! I'm just saying he's made his bid, he can't back out now; it's all arranged!" Min was alarmed by the look on her best friend's face; there was a darkness there that she had never seen before.

"You're just selfish and spiteful! You don't want me to have the man I love when you know you can never have Harry! You really are your father's daughter!" Fauna shouted with hatred in her eyes. The exposure of Min's secret crush to the watching circle of girls was not nearly as heart-breaking as Fauna's cruelty. Her face white with shock, Min spun on her heel and fled the room.

Min ran blindly through the castle, tears burning her eyes. Fauna had always been so gentle and sweet; how could she break her promise? How could she say something so hurtful to her? She collided with a solid body and arms wrapped around her.

"Min?" Harry's voice so full of concern broke her last reserves and she collapsed sobbing. She was lifted off her feet and Harry was carrying her somewhere but she didn't care. Fauna had been a source of endless support after her father's death. When everyone had shunned Min, Fauna had become her friend. "Min? What happened?" 

Harry was holding her, rocking her and stroking her hair. Min relaxed against him, breath hitching in her throat and let him soothe her. They were in the Room of Requirement, she realized, and it was set like a miniature Common Room, with a fireplace and couch. Harry had sat down with Min draped across his lap.

"Fauna…she…she said I was like my father." Min heard Harry gasp in outrage and hug her tight. 

"Why would she say something so mean?" His voice was still calm, but she could feel his anger in the trembling of his hands.

"She has a crush on Draco and I told her he was marrying Lilith. She thinks he'll change his mind." She relaxed into his embrace, a feeling of peace stealing over her. He was her friend at least; that was nice to know. Even if she never had anything else, she would have his friendship.

"That's silly. Draco is in love with Lilith." Min pulled back and looked at Harry in surprise.

"He told you that?" In all the times she had talked to Draco, he had never said the word 'love' when referring to Lilith.

"He didn't have to; it's there in his eyes when he talks about her." Min nodded slowly, thinking back to the conversations she had had with Draco. Now that she knew what she was looking for, she realized Harry was right. His eyes went soft when he talked about her.

"Fauna got mad at me for saying that he wasn't likely to go back on his bid and she said I was…well, she thought that I was saying she wasn't good enough to marry a Malfoy." Min changed her words in mid-sentence, trying to keep from blurting out her feelings to Harry.

"Fauna is going to be disappointed." Min had stopped crying, but Harry hadn't pushed her away or relaxed his grip around her waist, so she rested her head on his shoulder.

"She's been acting really strangely lately. She is obsessed with Draco." Min shrugged and burrowed into Harry's shoulder for comfort. "I thought she was my friend." The last was almost whispered. 

"Ron, Hermione and I have had some real knock-down drag-out fights. Ron has said some really awful things to me and vice versa. We came out all right in the end." He dropped a kiss on her head and she trembled, hiding her reaction by sniffling.

"Her face, it was so horrible when she yelled at me." Min shook her head. "I can't describe it; it was like there was someone else in her, someone dark." Harry stilled and she turned her head to see a thoughtful expression on his face.

"Maybe there is." Min's eyes widened in understanding, Harry gave her a lop-sided grin and dropped another kiss on her forehead. "You're a good kid, Min. Don't let them get to you."

Min smiled at his words but inside she was dying. He thought she was a good kid, damn it. Even though she had always known there was no hope, her heart hit another low right then and she was hard-pressed not to start crying again.


	11. Unlikely Allies

Chapter 11 – Unlikely Alliance

Severus woke to the sound of Kathryn changing the baby. He raised his head from the down pillow and blearily realized he must have slept through Ryan's cries. He had returned from the Dark Lord's side very late. Voldemort had thrown a party for his new allies and it had gone late into the night. Even pleading the need to be up early to teach the next morning hadn't allowed him to escape all the festivities.

Feeling unclean, Severus crawled out of bed and into the shower. The bright white porcelain and tile seemed to taunt him with its cleanliness, a sharp contrast to his own feelings of impurity. Even after last night's vigorous scrubbing, he felt filthy. He closed his eyes under the hot needles of spray and the image of the Muggle girl he had tortured and murdered last night returned to torment him. Her horror-stricken gaze was seared into his mind. 

The image though that had haunted his dreams was of golden ringlets tipped in scarlet as Miss Mangle had lapped at the girl's wounds like a lover, her eyes heavy-lidded with pleasure and her mouth smeared with blood and other fluids he chose not to name. Her orgasmic pleasure as he had methodically inflicted pain on the woman had been almost enough to drive him screaming from the chamber. 

Mr. Fenchurch and Madam Gideon had watched with calm dispassion as he worked; he had found their clinical gaze far less disturbing than the moans and cries of pleasure the golden-haired child had made, her tiny pink fingers working her own release, as she stared in avid hunger at the pain and depravity before her. 

Severus had left as quickly as possible after that, vomiting and shaking in the forest while Hagrid held his head. His report to Albus had been made between bouts of further illness and the old man's face had showed his age by the end of Severus' recital.

Crawling into bed after his lengthy shower, he had buried his head in Kathryn's hair and tried to believe that he would be clean again someday. 

He was jerked back to the present as Kathryn's hand grabbing his own made him realize that he had scrubbed his chest to bleeding. Without saying a word, she pulled him from the shower, dried him off with a few quick charms and rubbed salve into the raw flesh. Still without a word, she helped him get dressed as his hands were trembling too much for him to do up his buttons. 

When he was dressed and ready, she handed him his papers and class notes which he grasped blindly and cupping his chin she pulled him into a soft kiss.

"Severus, you need anything today, send a house elf to get me." Her voice was steady and even, but he could see the depths of concern in her eyes.

"I will deduct some points and yell a bit and I'll be fine." His dry words made her smile, but it never reached her eyes. Gods how he loved the woman; she didn't press him, but she wasn't fooled either.

His day, already terrible, got worse. Accidents in the classroom saved from being disasters only by his lightning fast reflexes, followed by Slytherin losing a humiliating 340 to 20 Quidditch match against Gryffindor. Severus had sat beside Kathryn in the stands watching as Draco seemed unable to concentrate on the game and the rest of the team fell apart without their Captain's leadership.

After the game, red-faced and stammering, Draco was unable to explain his lapse to Severus. More worried by the boy's distress than by the loss, he watched, concerned, as Draco was led off by Miss Broomworthy who was doing her best to comfort him.

September was proving to be a difficult month and they had only just started the year.

As he was walking away from the game, Harry came running up to him, panting and out of breath.

"Professor Snape!" He called and Severus paused to let him catch up.

"Mr. Potter." He answered, rather surprised by the boy's action.

"I'm sorry to bother you, Sir." The courtesy Harry was displaying made Severus stop and stare at him in surprise. Harry returned his look with a wry smile. "I was talking to Min earlier today, Sir, and I put it together with some of the things I have been 'seeing'." Severus grasped the situation immediately and grabbed Harry's elbow, guiding him off of the main road and along to his own passage. 

Minutes later, Harry was seated in his office and Severus was shocked to find himself handing the boy a cup of tea and talking with him civilly. Severus wasn't sure which one of them was more bemused by the situation: himself or Harry.

"So, Min was talking about how Fauna has been acting very strangely lately and I have been getting tiny flashes of this tall thin scary man and this little evil girl for the last three months and then Professor Leblanc said they were Dark Powers…" Severus felt a jolt go through him.

"Kathryn knew about them?" Why didn't she say anything? 

"I told her only yesterday, Sir." Severus relaxed; she hadn't had any time. "When I had told her what I had seen, she got really pale. Then she told me that they were really bad and that Voldemort had doomed himself by calling upon them."

"She's right about that, but he could do a lot of damage before he goes down." Severus had visions of a dying Voldemort taking his Death Eaters down with him, a group that sadly included one Severus Snape.

"Yes, Sir. She said that too. Anyway, about Fauna." The boy was obviously troubled.

"What about her?" Severus was confused. What had Miss Broomworthy to do with Voldemort?

"Fauna's in love with Draco and when Min told her it was hopeless, Fauna said all these horrible nasty things to Min. She was really upset." Harry sounded more upset about Min's distress than about whatever was going on with Miss Broomworthy; how curious.

"What does this have to do with those 'people' you've seen?" Severus asked.

"Min is very level-headed, Sir and she said that it was as if Fauna was inhabited by something dark." Harry paused to gather his thoughts and took a breath. "Professor Leblanc said they offered you stuff but that what you got was never worth the price."

It clicked in Severus's mind then like a terrible jigsaw puzzle. Suddenly Draco's distraction and Miss Broomworthy's solicitude made sense. 

"She left with Draco!" Severus was up and running, Harry right behind him.


	12. Past Transgressions

Chapter 12 – Past Transgressions

Kathryn watched as Harry came running up to Severus and she watched their brief conversation before they both darted away. She smiled with a feeling of pleased accomplishment. It had taken the better part of a year, but they now could speak to each other with some semblance of politeness; her mission there was mostly accomplished. Now if she could just get Ron to come around. That was going to be much harder; he had been raised from the cradle to hate Slytherins.

From the corner of her eye, she glimpsed Ginny Weasley staring thoughtfully after Draco and Fauna as they walked away. The speculative look in the redhead's eyes was enough to rouse Kathryn's curiosity. Sidling over, she followed the progress of the two Slytherins along with her. Ginny had reached the top of Kathryn's shoulder and at sixteen was blooming into a lovely young woman. Kathryn wondered what interest she had in Draco.

"What are we looking at?" Kathryn asked finally.

"Everyone knows that Fauna has a major crush on Draco." Ginny began, head tilted to one side, lip caught in her teeth.

"Draco's rather taken with Lilith Leblanc, however." Kathryn nodded, keeping the casual conversational style that Ginny had adopted.

"But lately, Fauna has gone from crush to obsessed stalker." Ginny, who had some familiarity with unrequited love, was giving a worried look to the now empty path.

"How obsessed?" Did Kathryn need to talk to the girl?

"Scary obsessed. She talks about how he doesn't know what he really wants and she would be better for him than that 'American whore'." Kathryn's eyebrow went up sharply. She hadn't known that Fauna knew that sort of language; she had always been rather soft-spoken.

"That's rather disturbing. Perhaps we should follow them." Kathryn moved off after Draco and Fauna with Ginny following behind her.

They hurried down the road back towards the school, the sixteen-year-old having trouble keeping up with Kathryn. Draco and Fauna were nowhere to be seen ahead of them. The road to the school was empty of them and it was unlikely they could have made it all that way in so short a time. Kathryn turned and scanned to back trail. She caught a glimpse of green; Draco's Quidditch robes maybe? 

Ginny hot on her heels, Kathryn started towards where she had seen the brief flash of color. The Forbidden Forest, leafy canopy deceptively innocent in daylight hours, loomed ahead and Kathryn drew her wand and gestured to Ginny to stay behind her.

Moving silently through the underbrush, Kathryn crept forward; voices could be heard up ahead and she crouched lower to peer between two leafy ferns.

In a small clearing Draco was staring blankly ahead as Fauna wrapped herself around him, stroking his cheek. She kissed his unresponsive lips and gazed into his unseeing eyes.

"Kiss me, Draco." She commanded and he responded with violent passion, grabbing her shoulders and forcing his tongue into her mouth. Fauna gave a little cry and tried to escape but the young man just grabbed harder and she was trapped in his arms. 

Kathryn cast a tiny charm that would show any other watchers. There across the clearing, was the slight glow that revealed another peeping tom.

Ginny broke past Kathryn and rushed into the clearing. She leaped at the struggling pair and began trying to loose Draco's arms from the younger girl.

"Let her go! You're hurting her!" Ginny cried.

Draco swung out and hit Ginny on the side of the head. Kathryn knew it was stupid but she had to help Ginny. She abandoned her cover and caught the girl before she hit the ground.

"Hello, Kathy." She looked up as the bushes rustled and a slight young man with wavy golden hair stepped out, wand pointed at her. It was David Peregrine, her old partner. Draco was unconcerned by the audience; he was still trying to molest the now sobbing Fauna.

Ginny was in Kathryn's arms, between her and David. She dropped the girl trying to get her out of the line of fire and stood up slowly.

"Dave, how unpleasant to see you. Have you betrayed anyone else lately?" She was buying time -- time for Ginny to figure out what was going on and get her own wand ready.

"No, just you, Kathy." He smiled cheerfully across the clearing. Her own smile, a mere baring of the teeth, was not as pleasant. "So, I hear you got canned from the MSA. Something about dating a Death Eater -- how gauche." Good, she thought with grim satisfaction, the cover story had been bought.

"You're one to talk, Dave." She ground out, she hated being called Kathy almost as much as he hated being called Dave; it was petty, but she would take what she could get. 

"Now, now, little girl; you just keep your hands where I can see them." He said to Ginny, waving a threatening wand at her, then he nodded towards where Draco was pulling Fauna's blouse off with single-minded purpose. "Wouldn't want to miss the show, now would you?"

The inner analyst in Kathryn's head came up with an answer and she shuddered in sudden fear.

"What did they offer you, David?" she asked him softly, her fear receding as she controlled her breathing and prepared herself. David laughed and the sound made her skin prickle.

"Oh, Kathy, always the good girl -- the moralist -- and yet you were the worst of us. The hypocrisy just killed me sometimes; you'd fuck for the job, wouldn't you, but you wouldn't even kiss me." Draco was pushing Fauna to the ground and she was screaming for help. Kathryn had to do something but David had her dead to rights and her first move would be her last.

"We were partners, there are rules about that." She answered, growing desperate as Draco began ripping at the girl's skirt.

"Rules? What did rules mean to us? We were the elite, the ones with the power!" He screamed, the tendons standing out along his throat. "We could do anything except that they leashed us like dogs!" He subsided and giggled softly. "They offered me freedom, Kathy; no more leashes, no more rules, no more teachers, no more school, and no more having to watch you scream for some bastard you were going to kill anyway!" Draco had her panties off; Fauna was nude and her screams had become whimpers and she beat frantically at Draco's chest.

"David, stop this. Stop him -- she's only fifteen." Kathryn pleaded, horrified. Draco would slit his own wrists when he realized what he had done.

"Why should I stop it? It's what she wanted."

"No! Please! This isn't what I wanted at all! Help me Professor!" Fauna shrieked and Kathryn took a step forwards to answer the girl's plea. A bolt of scarlet energy erupted right before her and Kathryn froze.

"For Merlin's sake, David, stop this!" She screamed as Draco held the struggling girl down with one hand while trying to get his pants open with the other. A blast of light caught David in the side and he flew into a tree with a loud thunk. Not caring who had saved her, Kathryn drew her wand and stupefied Draco in one swift movement. He fell to the side and as his eyes met Kathryn's she could see his relief and gratitude as he went slack and then unconscious.

"Oh my God, he was aware through that." Ginny was sobbing and she crawled to Fauna wrapping her in her school robes and cradling her.

Severus burst into the clearing, wand still smoking and froze in horror at the sight before him. Harry, following behind him, almost piled into his back but stopped himself just in time. 

Kathryn turned to where David lay unconscious and drew her wand; she wanted nothing so much as to kill the bastard, her fury at him white-hot as she listened to Fauna's broken sobbing. She stepped forward and found herself held in invisible ropes. The greater her fury, the tighter the ropes bound her. While she struggled, Severus went to help Draco and Harry came to stand beside her, watching her fight her inner struggle.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"Dumbledore has bound me not to kill." She wanted to scream in frustration. Her leash might be looser but it was far shorter. Dumbledore and his damn scruples! She was furious. Harry moved towards the limp figure of the ex-Auror and raised his wand to cast a binding charm. With a soft pop, the other man vanished.

"Time locked portkey." Kathryn ground out, fury etched in every line of her body. If only she could have gotten to him first, she could have kept herself from killing him. She knew that they needed to ask him questions, but Dumbledore's bindings had kept her immobilized from the minute the desire to kill had sparked.

She needed to have a long, quiet chat with the Headmaster; as soon as she stopped wanting to kill him that is. Because until her rage and desire to strangle someone dissipated, she wasn't going anywhere.


	13. Fallout

Chapter13 – Fallout

Severus was back in the Hospital Wing again, though this time he wasn't the patient. Still, the cause was the same: Voldemort. The Dark Lord had hurt the children in his care this time and Severus would gladly have taken their pain on himself.

Severus sat beside Draco watching the boy as he slept. A few beds over, Ginny Weasley was holding Fauna and rocking her gently as she sobbed brokenly in the older girl's arms. Kathryn and Harry had gone to see the Headmaster, Kathryn with an odd look on her face.

Poppy bustled in and gave something to Fauna to drink. The girl drank it down without asking what it was and Severus sighed. She had obviously learned nothing from the situation; she was still far too trusting. Ginny held her until she fell asleep and then approached Severus on cat's feet.

"How is he?" She asked in an undertone.

"Kathryn's skills with 'Stupefy' are formidable; he should sleep for hours." Severus returned dryly.

"Don't you want to wake him?" Ginny was watching him with interest. There was something almost…Slytherin…in her gaze. He studied her in return, seeing a greater maturity and intelligence than he had realized was there.

"What on Earth do you see in Neville Longbottom?" He asked her with honest curiosity.

"He listens to me." She replied with an affectionate smile for the absent Longbottom. "I mean, he really listens -- not just to be polite but because he actually cares. He thinks about the things around him, he pays attention to the world, he is sensitive, kind, patient and honest." Her face went from sweetly smiling to haunted and sad. "He is everything Tom wasn't; in fact you could call them polar opposites."

"A plethora of reasons and all of them excellent." He admitted. When seen from Ginny's eyes, Longbottom was a damn fine match for her. "However, you don't love him." He mentioned with some gentleness.

"The only person I ever loved was Harry, Professor, and we both know he didn't love me in return." She sounded peaceful as she said this.

"Are you still in love with him?" His curiosity piqued by the complex young woman.

"No, I got over him after Cedric died. The dream I had in my head wasn't the real Harry Potter." She drew a chair up and settled into it with a sigh. She was dirty, tired and covered in leaves, twigs and Fauna's tears. He pulled his wand and with a few quick charms had her cleaned up. "You are one of the few people besides Neville who listens to me, you know."

"You are one of the few people who doesn't bore me to tears, Miss Weasley." Her grin made his lips twitch in a desire to emulate it.

"That is the best compliment I have ever gotten, Professor." She was being sincere, he realized after his initial surprise had faded. "So, are you going to wake him?" She was persistent; he admired the quality, even though he loathed its application at the moment.

"Just a little while longer, Miss Weasley." It was almost a whisper and she looked at him with sudden sympathy and understanding.

"Yes, Sir." She rose, nodded to him and left the room.

It was almost an hour before he could bring himself to cast 'Enervate' on Draco. He watched with sorrow and grief as first confusion and then a wave of self-loathing washed over the boy. He rested a gentle hand on Draco's shoulder.

"You were under a spell, Draco."

"Potter can fight off 'Imperius'." Came the reply from between bloodless lips.

"This was far more powerful than 'Imperius', Draco." He willed the boy to listen, to understand, but the blond head turned away and caught sight of Fauna asleep on the other bed.

"Why?" It was a forlorn sound and it tore at Severus with dark fangs of guilt. These were his children; he was responsible for their well-being and he had let them down. 

"She thought she was in love with you and a dark creature took advantage of that to feed itself." It was an over-simplification, but he didn't think Draco was up to a complex discussion on the nature of evil right now.

Kathryn entered then, Potter, thankfully, nowhere in sight. She came straight to Draco and touched his cheek very gently, as if he were a very small child needing comfort. Draco began to cry, noisily and messily and Kathryn wrapped him up and held him, rocking him, as Ginny had rocked Fauna earlier. Severus sat quietly, watching as Kathryn mothered the boy, being for him at that moment what he needed most and giving him what Narcissa never could.

Kathryn was humming softly as she rocked him, stroking his hair and soothing him, their eyes met over the top of the boy's head and he was warmed by the fury he saw in her. He nodded solemnly and she returned it. They both silently swore to exact revenge for this atrocity.

Draco was sleeping again, Poppy's draught having worked its magic on the boy. Kathryn wrapped her arms around Severus and buried her nose in his hair.

"Did I thank you for saving my ass back there?" She sighed and nuzzled close to him.

"It is far too attractive a piece of anatomy to allow it to come to harm." He retorted, still shaken by the entire encounter.

"I am glad we were here for Draco." She kissed him softly, just the lightest brush of her lips across his and yet it was an expression of love that left him breathless.

"I am surprised the Headmaster didn't come down." Severus clung hard to her. Seeing her helpless before that bastard had really frightened him.

"I am surprised that the Headmaster isn't singing soprano." She growled. He pulled back and looked into her eyes.

"What happened? He didn't blame Draco, did he?" Past unfairness came to mind and he felt his ire rising.

"No, no, he and I just had a little chat about David and how he escaped and I am afraid it got a little heated." She replied.

"She threatened to cut off his nuts with a rusty butter knife if he didn't release her bindings. It was great!" Harry, black hair sticking out in every direction, was grinning as he entered. "I've wanted to say something like that to him for years."

"Bindings?" Severus remembered the abortive discussion they had had at Grimmauld Place.

"It was amazing! She told him he was a hypocritical bastard without an ounce of trust in other people's judgment. That he went on and on about free will and choices and then kept people from being able to make them!" Harry was bouncing in joy and almost dancing around the room, punching an invisible enemy. "Take that, you withholding jerk!" He crowed. "Fine, don't tell me that Voldemort is crawling around in my head!" 

Kathryn's head sunk back into Severus' shoulder with a groan.

"I had no idea Mr. Potter had followed me." She admitted.

"Bindings?" He repeated slightly louder.

"Yeah, the MSA puts these magically binding thingies on the Agents to control them and now she's bound to the Order and Dumbledore, only he made it so every time she wanted to kill someone, she would freeze up. Almost got her killed and let that other guy escape." Harry was still accenting each sentence with a shadow punch and as his words sank in Severus was strongly tempted to join him.

"That sanctimonious, short-sighted…" Severus trailed off as his rage choked his vocal chords.

"On the other side of the ledger, Madam Chanel apparently told him I was a rabid dog who couldn't be trusted off of a leash." Kathryn's bitter tones drew him back from homicidal contemplations.

"She sounds like Moody, all paranoid and off her nut." Harry had calmed down some, but he was still bouncing on his toes and Severus felt in complete accord with him.

"She is head of a spy organization; that takes a very specific kind of madness." Kathryn chuckled.

"So, Dumbledore has undone that binding?" Severus asked and Kathryn nodded.

"My leash is a little longer and hopefully not likely to yank me off my feet next time." She still had her arms wrapped around him and he dropped a kiss on top of her head. Harry's grin made him realize that he had an audience, but he didn't really care just then. He could be the Greasy Git tomorrow. Today, he was too damn tired and worried.


	14. Dark of the Light

Chapter 14 – Dark of the Light

Minuet started when Harry called her name. She had been in the library for the past few hours reading up on legends and stories of Dark creatures, looking for something that prayed on people's desires. What she found was disturbing and sad. There were dozens of creatures and they had no problem finding food.

Harry flopped down in the chair beside her and craned his head to read the title of her book.

"Dark Creatures and Their Habits?" He asked with curiosity.

"I was trying to figure out what Fauna got involved with." She replied and he smiled at her.

"Good idea." He nodded and reached for one of the books. "I'll help. Besides, if I know Professor Leblanc, this is going to come up as homework soon." He added and she giggled. Min clapped her hand over her mouth in horror. "What?" He asked in amusement.

"Slytherins never giggle." She informed him primly.

"Not even when they're tickled?" He asked with wide innocent eyes. She was just not quite fast enough to escape and his fingers found their way with practiced ease. She clamped her jaws shut in a desperate attempt to not be expelled from the library for shrieking. Her face was red and tears were leaking when he relented with a sigh. "But I like your giggle, Min." He said so forlornly that she had to smile, while wiping the tears from her eyes and taking deep breaths.

"Harry, we are supposed to be studying." She pushed a book in front of him and opened it for him to read. He gave an exaggerated pout and huge gusty sigh before he bent his head obediently to the page. 

"Slave driver." He teased her and they settled in to study.

Minuet found it far harder to study with Harry sitting next to her than she had thought it would be. It was warm and comforting to be with him but there was also this little tickle of sensation that ran up and down her body every time he shifted in his seat.

His glasses glinted in the light, his thick black hair slid across his eyes, and she found herself watching him more often than the book. There was a tension in her and she had read about it but she had never experienced it before. She berated herself mentally for losing sight of the fact that he was seventeen, one of the more popular boys in school, a Gryffindor and a hero. To her he was just Harry and that was more than enough to make her weak and shivery.

A thud in front of her made her jump almost out of her chair. Several of the seventh-year Slytherins had dumped their books on the table before Harry and were glaring at him. Amend the previous thought: most popular with everyone but her own House, she groaned inside. She would suffer for this; she should have known better than to let him sit with her in so public a place.

"He bothering you, Ravagienne?" Zabini asked with a menacing growl. The others were looking at Harry as though all they needed was a tiny excuse to hex him back to the Dark Ages. Before she could say a word, Professor Leblanc leaned out of the stacks nearby. Min hadn't even known she was there.

"I didn't tell you to stop, Miss Ravagienne, or you Mr. Potter." She said in a severe tone and they both dropped their heads back to their books quickly. The other Slytherins, thinking that Harry and Min were serving a detention, fled the library quickly. The Gryffindor and the Slytherin grinned at each other and then smiled at Professor Leblanc.

"Thanks, Ma'am." Min called after her as she returned to the stacks. 

"C'mon, Min." Harry looked around, grabbed the books and floated them to Madam Pince. Min followed him as he marched them both off to the Room of Requirement, making sure not to be seen or followed.

Once they were inside, it looked like a library with hundreds of books on Dark Magic and Defense. A small couch sat in front of a fireplace and a table with quills and ink sat in the center. Harry plopped the books down and went to wander the stacks

Min read, skimming through unrelated subjects, searching for a clue to what they were up against. Hours passed and she got nothing more than a headache and a deep fear of being afraid. Every one of these creatures seemed to feed on fears.

"I am scared of being scared." She murmured and slammed shut the latest volume.

"I don't think its just fear, per se." Harry must have heard her low-voiced comment. He raised his head from his own book. "There's being afraid of something and then there's letting your fears control you." Harry elucidated.

"Fauna was in love, not afraid." Min argued. Harry shook his head in negation.

"No, she was afraid. She was afraid he'd marry someone else, she was afraid he'd never love her back. She was afraid of being alone" His voice was sure and she found herself nodding; he was right she realized.

"But you can't make people feel things. They either do or they don't and if you really love someone it doesn't matter if they are with you or not anyway; you just want them to be happy." She was angry at Fauna for trying to take what should be given freely. Harry was looking at her with a strange kind of intensity.

"Are you really only fifteen? At fifteen I was a jerk." Harry admitted and Minuet laughed.

"Girls mature faster, or so I hear." She teased him and he smiled, but it was almost wistful.

"You matured faster than most, I think." His words made her remember her father's arrest, the Aurors looking at her as if she were trash. Images of the witches and wizards who spat at her and her mother passed through her mind. There were shops that wouldn't sell to them and friends who wouldn't owl them anymore. Yes, she had grown up quickly.

"You know what I learned, Harry?"

"What, Min?"

"I learned that friends are more important than wealth and status. I learned that you can be innocent and people will still think you're guilty. I learned that your parents are human and they make bad decisions and do stupid things." She felt a tear slide down her cheek and brushed it away angrily. Harry came around the table and pulled her up from her chair. 

He led her to the couch and they settled into it side-by-side and stared at the flames.

"Everyone thought I was the Heir of Slytherin in my second year. They whispered about me behind my back." He looked at her, his glasses flashing in the firelight. "They judged me for being a parseltongue, like that made me intrinsically evil." Minuet nodded. He draped an arm across her shoulder and she leaned against his warmth.

"Everyone thinks I am some purist bigot. I don't hate Muggle-borns. I like Hermione. I think Finch-Fletchley is a git, but not because he's a Muggle-born." Harry laughed and she could feel his body convulse with it. It was nice to able to make him laugh. She punched him gently in the ribs and grinned.

"You never act like I'm anything special, Min. I like that." It was a total non sequitur and it surprised the truth out of her.

"You are special -- you're Harry." She replied and he went silent, staring at her in shock. "What did I say?" she asked in confusion.

"Min." His voice was soft and full of wonder and he leaned in and kissed her. It was so welcome and so unexpected that she was stunned. His mouth was warm and moist and it was sending tendrils of feeling into parts of her body she hadn't known could feel that way. She wrapped her arms around his neck, sure that she was dreaming but not willing to wake up. He held her like she was made of glass and then he ended the kiss and stared at her some more.

Minuet stared back, unsure of what had just happened. Did this mean he liked her? She had never been kissed before and she wasn't sure she had done it right. Why was he staring at her as if she had suddenly appeared from nowhere?

"Harry?" Her voice was breathy and she wasn't quite sure what she was asking. He seemed to guess though, because he kissed her again and it was even better the second time. With her wits a little less scattered she could try to kiss him back. She was dizzy and euphoric when he pulled back and she wasn't sure what the look was on his face, but it was doing things to her insides. His glasses had come off somewhere in all of this and his green eyes were dark and filled with some nameless emotion. 

She shivered and he visibly controlled himself.

"Fifteen, right fifteen." He muttered and Minuet was both relieved and obscurely disappointed. She wanted him but she wasn't sure she was ready yet. She also knew she would give Harry anything, ready or not, so maybe it was a good thing that he had some restraint.

He pulled back with some reluctance and sighed. 

"This is going to be a problem." He ran a hand through his hair and she felt her heart sink; did he regret the kiss? "Malfoy's gonna kill me." 

"For kissing me?" How would Draco ever find out?

"No, for dating you." He gave her a lop-sided smile and her heart swelled with joy.

"Really?" She was grinning like a fool and Harry hugged her against him, holding her tightly. "You want to date me?"

"No, I just go around kissing girls randomly." He rolled his eyes in exasperation. Minuet pulled back to look him in the eyes.

"I just thought there was no way that you would ever be caught dead dating a fifteen year old Slytherin, daughter of a Death Eater." She said all in one breath. He tucked a lock of her hair behind her ears and gave her a sad smile.

"I thought you would never like a seventeen year old Gryffindor who still has a Dark Lord to face." Understanding grew in her heart and she kissed him lightly on his mouth.

"Idiot."

"Sneak"

"Harry."

"Oh Min."


	15. The Only Thing We Have to Fear

Chapter 15 – The Only thing We Have to Fear 

Kathryn left the library with a thoughtful look. She was going to have to talk to Severus about starting up that special potions project for Minuet again; looks like she was going to need some supervised time with a certain Gryffindor. Not that Kathryn didn't trust Harry, but he was seventeen and she doubted he had a lot of experience with girls -- no need to tempt the boy past his limits.

She stopped by the hospital wing to visit Fauna. The official story, that they had wandered into the Forbidden Forest on a dare and been attacked, was thin and didn't account for Fauna's fevered eyes and Draco's all-consuming horror.

Fauna was burning up from the inside out and Kathryn didn't know what to do for her. Albus sat with her, trying counter-curses and spells of protection, but nothing seemed able to stop what was happening to the girl. Fauna was scared and cried easily; she lay in her bed and withered. The teachers understood what was happening to her but they knew of no way to stop it. What was most frightening for Kathryn was that she saw a dark figure waiting near Fauna's bed. 

She knew him; of course, no grandchild of Marie Laveau could be ignorant of His identity. She saw him becoming more clear and defined as every day passed. Draco grew stronger and was released form the Hospital Wing a few days after the 'attack', but Fauna remained and as Kathryn watched the Baron standing watch over her. Kathryn came to understand that Fauna would never leave that bed alive.

In the evenings after class she would go down to the dungeons, curl against Severus and cling to his warmth. She wasn't sure why David had attacked them -- if Voldemort sent him or if the three had. She didn't know their agenda or if her defense of Draco and Fauna would be seen as loyalty to Voldemort or rebellion. Severus had been called twice since then and Voldemort appeared to have no thought that he was a traitor. Voldemort had gently scolded the trio for endangering Malfoy, but that was all that was ever said about the incident.

When the doubts came crowding in she would cuddle Ryan, kiss him, and whisper prayers of protection over him in the dark. She watched the students with greater intensity. She taught them the things to look for, the things to avoid; she taught them to defend themselves and she hoped they learned. But she could not escape the feeling of personal failure. Fauna's eyes, so frightened and intense, stared up at her out of dreams; they were so like Elise's were near the end.

A pall had fallen over the school and as September turned to October it was quiet in the halls and corridors. From her perch at the Head Table, she watched the students, frightened and unsure and she suddenly understood. They were all afraid, that glimmer of understanding was what had precipitated her visit to the Hospital Wing.

She leaned over Fauna's bed and touched her lightly waking her from her fevered dreaming. The girl looked up at her from sunken eyes and hollow cheeks.

"It's your fear that is killing you, Fauna." She spoke to the girl, hoping against hope. "Don't be afraid, Fauna." She sat beside the girl and pulled her into her lap.

"I c-can't help it." Her voice was wispy and fading, there wasn't much time.

Kathryn closed her eyes, rocked the child, and tried to remember. It came back to her in a glorious flash: the cavern and the Elves beside her as they readied for battle. She reached into that place where her blood belonged more to the eternal summer than to the human world and she began to sing. She sang the song the Elves had sung as they went into battle -- she sang with every bit of her magic and her power. Her voice filled the room, fluttered the drapes around the bed like war banners and drove fear before it with martial drumming.

Fauna seemed to lift in her arms, as though the song buoyed her up physically. It was impossible to be afraid as that song moved through your heart. It made a mockery of fear and darkness; it laughed at loss and shrugged off pain. Fauna's cracked and reedy voice lifted with Kathryn's. She sang with none of Kathryn's power but with renewed hope.

In the corner, a tall, slender black man in a top hat raised his silver skull-headed cane and saluted Kathryn with a smile. He then faded to shadow and was gone.

The song ended and Fauna fell asleep, a fierce smile on her lips and Kathryn tucked her in.

Alone in the darkened hospital, Kathryn rested her head on her arms and wept like a child.

Severus found her there, hours later, and carried her to his rooms unnoticed. She rested her cheek against his frock coat and clutched the material in her fist. The soft wool filled with his particular scent was balm to her soul. He laid her down gently on his bed and she tugged him urgently down on top of her.

"She'll live." Kathryn told him and the lightening of his eyes, the brilliance of his smile, the expression that was only for her, aroused her more than all the romance in the world. She cherished most the power to make him smile.

She pulled at his buttons, desperate to get to his skin, needing his strength and his sweetness. He stilled her hands in his and kissed her. His mouth grazed her lips with heartbreaking tenderness; he caught her lower lip and stroked it with his tongue, she shivered and tried to move closer, but he held her down and lifted his face away until she was still again. 

With agonizing slowness he dropped his mouth back down to hers. He lipped her, licked, and then gently nibbled his way from her jaw to her collarbone, eliciting sighs and moans from her. She was hungry for him but he chose to tease and taunt, delaying her feast. He slipped the top button of her gown from the loop that held it captive and placed a chaste kiss between her breasts. Kathryn was feeling anything but chaste however; her growls of frustration were met by a rather sinister laugh that curled her toes in anticipation.

He chuckled at her pleading and continued to tug free each button with the air of a man who has all the time in the world.

"What if Ryan wakes up?" She played her trump card.

"Minerva is baby-sitting for the evening." He used the Voice when he said it, the low sexy tones that turned her bones to melted butter. She sighed happily and he answered with a chuckle.

Later -- much later -- Kathryn took herself to Minerva's rooms and knocked lightly. Minerva opened the door and grinned broadly, ushering her inside. Minerva, in a plaid tartan robe and her hair braided down her back looked as unlike her teaching self as it was possible to be. All the severity was gone and she sweetly smiled at Kathryn.

"Merlin, you look wiped out." Minerva chuckled.

"One day that man is going to kill me." She groaned and flung herself onto Minerva's Victorian love seat. Her exaggerated stiffness and weary voice made Minerva laugh.

"You poor dear, shall I tell him to leave you alone?" Minerva enquired in mock solicitude.

"No, no, he would only take it out on the students! I shall continue to nobly sacrifice myself for their sakes!" Minerva was bent double with laughter and she went to fetch the sleeping Ryan still chuckling.

Kathryn took the baby with a soft tender smile; she loved this child so very much.

"I hear from Poppy that Miss Broomworthy is out of danger." Minerva was watching her over the rims of her square spectacles.

"That's wonderful!" Kathryn smiled innocently and Minerva shook her head at her.

"Kathryn, dear, you are the best DADA teacher we have ever had, but you do innocent about as well as Severus does." Kathryn laughed as quietly as possible as she left to take Ryan back to his own little bed.


	16. Halloween

Chapter 16 – Halloween 

Severus was preparing himself for the seasonal annoyance of the Halloween Ball. This year he expected to be able to dance with Kathryn at least once, little enough compensation for having to patrol the corridors for snogging couples.

Voldemort had been congratulating him again on capturing Kathryn's heart at the last meeting and his contemptuous remarks had made Severus' blood boil. Pretending to be unaffected by Kathryn was difficult enough without the Dark Lord making coarse remarks.

"Really Severus, you must be using up your whole supply of love potions." Shiv had chortled cruelly and Severus had simply smiled.

"Potions are not necessary, Shiv. Perhaps if you learned the meaning of the word 'foreplay' you could attract women of a higher quality yourself." Severus had snapped. The other Death Eaters had laughed at Shiv's sputtering anger; they saw weakness and went in for the kill.

Severus had quit the group the instant attention was no longer on him only to be pounced on by Miss Mangle. She was dressed in a Hogwarts school uniform this time. Slytherin, of course; with the skirt a little too short and the blouse open at the neck, it was far too obvious for Severus' taste and she seemed to know it.

"You don't like to play with me, do you Severus?" Such an adult tone from the illusory child was unsettling.

"No, Miss Mangle. Unlike some, I know the price for your company and I choose to spend myself more wisely." He gave her a little bow and she smiled at him, not her usual predatory look, but something deeper and more speculative.

"You interest me. You play here but you do not 'spend yourself', as you say. You obey but you do not seek praise. You show loyalty but no greed. You puzzle me." The last she said with a crinkling of her brow that made her seem almost human. She was prying around the edges of him, trying to get him to respond to her, to give her something of himself.

"I doubt a creature as old as you would deem me at all interesting." He retorted and then moved on, avoiding her for the rest of the evening. She scared him on a primal level, she made his guts clench every time she came near. He couldn't understand how Franco could leer at her and Shiv kept eyeing her hungrily; he felt no hunger, only disgust.

Her words kept playing through his mind -- did she suspect he was a traitor, or was she genuinely incapable of puzzling out his soul? That thought gave him a soft glow in his heart. If he had been truly evil, wouldn't he have been drawn to Miss Mangle, the way Shiv and Franco were? If his soul was truly damned, she would understand him, wouldn't she? 

He had long ago decided that his past was unpardonable but what was Miss Mangle's confusion if not evidence of some sort of personal redemption? Perhaps he wasn't quite the loathsome creature he had once thought himself.

On that cheery thought he dressed for the Halloween Ball. Kathryn had warned him that Harry was dating Min, so there were likely to be fireworks. Neither of them was stupid enough to make their relationship public but the tension between them was palpable and Harry was a lousy actor. The first time someone leered at Min, he would give himself away by his expression alone.

This unexpected development put all their lives in danger. Her life hung by a thread with Voldemort, only Severus' constant assurances of her loyalty was keeping her alive right now. If it were discovered that she was snogging Potter, there'd be hell to pay, not to mention that Voldemort would want to know how a fifteen-year-old girl could have fooled Severus. At the least, it would be hours of Cruciatus and other tortures; at worst, Ryan would be short a father.

He touched his son lightly. Ryan still spent most of his time sleeping and eating but the wriggling bundle was of utmost importance to his doting father. 

Faerie blessings were always mixed, Kathryn had said, and they were all finding out how true that was. Harry may be in love eternally and truly, but the likelihood that either of them would survive the experience was minimal at best. Minuet was also only fifteen; she may be in the throes of a crush. In five years it might be "Harry, who?" and Potter would be stuck with a broken heart and no hope of happiness.

Severus wondered when he started to give a damn about Potter's happiness. Shouldn't he be rejoicing at the prospect? Why wasn't he dancing in the aisles, celebrating the downfall of the Potter line?

He straightened his robes and stalked from the room with a nod at Winky who was fussing happily over the baby. He put on his most menacing scowl and proceeded to snarl his way through the hallways, scattering students before him. 

It wasn't as fun as it normally was. He was worried about Minuet. The two months she had spent at the cottage over the summer with her little sister following in her wake, had been wonderful. He had decided again that little girls were delightful, not that he would ever let on, of course. 

As he had watched the two girls, both of them dark-haired and eyed with pale skin, it was easy to pretend they were his. Fortina, having just turned seven, was convinced she was all grown up and her attempts to be mature and gracious had given him much amusement -- amusement that he hid with the same care he used when dealing with Voldemort.

Tina was fragile and his urge was to bring her to live at Hogwarts with him instead of leaving her at his parents' home. How he would extract her from her mother was the problem. Despite the woman's tears and misery, Tina was attached to her mother and having already lost her father, Severus was unsure whether another such loss would prove too much for her to bear. He supposed he could move the mother and daughter to Hogsmeade, maybe buy a little cottage there for them, but Allegra Ravagienne was much like Narcissa -- she craved luxury and beauty.

There were no mansions in Hogsmeade and Allegra was unlikely to want to live in a less magnificent fashion. Well, Tina would be attending Hogwarts in only four years and by then she would be far more easily watched over. 

Severus swept into the Great Hall and was momentarily stunned by the décor. Albus and Filius had once more managed to defy all conventions of taste and restraint to create a cacophony of clashing colors.

"It's the flying black cats that get me." Kathryn slipped up beside him and muttered.

"What is that on the walls? It is making me nauseated." He sighed.

"Orange and black glitter, I think, though it could be fairy vomit -- hard to tell. It is interesting the way it swirls across the walls, isn't it?" She chuckled and he escorted her to Minerva immediately. He really needed the whisky tonight.

Minerva was in her most fiercely black robes, hair so tightly pinned it looked painful and lips pursed in an expression of disapproval. Severus ducked as one of the kamikaze cats dive-bombed the snack table and he wondered, not for the first time, whether Albus was really all there.

"Those cats are a menace." Minerva snapped as they approached and Severus nodded. He darted away to fetch punch for the ladies, his eyes sweeping the room for any sign of Potter or Min. He dodged as one of the cats landed face-first in the smoked salmon and began to roll and purr while gnawing happily on the fish. Severus levitated three glasses and filled them, deciding to forgo the buffet tonight. Minerva dumped a heavy dose of the Glenfidditch into the cups and they all clinked glasses.

He soon found himself, along with Minerva and Kathryn drinking heavily in a corner as the cats discovered aerial acrobatics. They dived, swam through the air, chased each other and generally made a nuisance of themselves. Minerva muttered something and gave a surreptitious wand wave about the time one of the female cats began to sing, while several male cats perked up ears and headed for her. Suddenly, they transfigured into a rain of candy and the children scrabbled for them, laughing. 

Severus gave a slow smile to Minerva and Kathryn dropped a kiss on the older woman's cheek.

"Brilliant! I wish I had your skill at transfiguration." Kathryn sighed.

"Well, I wish I had your facility with hexes. Which reminds me, those gentlemen who attacked you in Hogsmeade in May, did you ever go and release the curse on them?" Minerva asked quietly, with a quirked eyebrow. 

"But Minerva, what could I do about them? Everyone knows Harry is the one who was attacked." Kathryn batted her eyes innocently at Minerva and Severus tried not to choke on his punch. He had forgotten all about the men in St. Mungo's, but he agreed with Kathryn that they were best left as they were.

"Well, as soon as you-know-who is defeated, you march yourself to St. Mungo's and fix them; they might be sane enough to be witnesses." Minerva sounded scolding, but her words were mild and her eyes danced with amusement.

"Yes, Ma'am." Kathryn tried to sound chastened but Severus could see the mischief in her eyes and the subtle shaking of her shoulders.

He extended a hand to her and she took it with a smile. He drew her onto the dance floor and pulled her into his arms with a glare at one of the second-year Hufflepuffs who was staring at them in horror. Kathryn moved with precision through the steps, elegant and graceful; her Elven ancestry granted her a smoothness to her movements that made her a joy to dance with.

He noted the looks of stunned amazement on the faces of the students as he whirled Kathryn around the dance floor and chuckled inwardly at their shock. Didn't think the old bat could dance, did they? Kathryn smiled up at him with her eyes and he stopped caring what the students were thinking.

Her body so close to his was giving him ideas and he wanted to whisk her off to the dungeons and do terrible horrible things to her. With a sigh, he released her after the dance and went to vent his frustration on the students.

Draco was moving Helena Goyle through the intricate steps of a quadrille, performing it with the innate arrogance of a Malfoy and a pureblood. Unlike her older brother, Helena was a delicate ethereal creature with a sharp wit. The only resemblance with her gorilla-like older brother was in the almost fanatical loyalty she showed to Draco. At eleven she was tiny beside Draco, but she was glaring daggers at anyone who seemed likely to harm her dance partner.

Draco's pain-filled eyes met Severus' and the Potions Master felt again the helplessness of his position. Draco had been near silent since the attack in the woods. He never came to Severus' lab any more and he hardly ever spoke in class. 

"Professor?" Miss Granger's voice cut through his introspection and he looked down at the school's resident know-it-all with a quirked eyebrow. "Is Malfoy okay?" She echoed his thoughts with a tiny frown. He glanced about and realized that she had timed her approach for a moment when he was far from anyone else. The music was loud and kept their voices from being overheard. She might make a decent spy one day, for a Gryffindor.

"No, Miss Granger, he is not." Severus replied with an expression of distaste at odds with his voice. Miss Granger looked chastened but glanced up at him through her lashes.

"Is there anything I can do?" Severus was startled by her offer, though he shouldn't be. She was so eager to rescue and help the downtrodden that Malfoy's plight must have assuredly roused her compassion.

"I am restarting the special potions classes, Miss Granger. You shall be attending them." He commanded but Miss Granger smiled up at him and nodded with a look of incandescent joy. Perhaps not so good as a spy, he chuckled inwardly at her transparent emotions.

"I know they were for Minuet, but I really learned a lot." She added with the eagerness of a puppy seeing the leash come down from the wall and knowing a walk was in store. She was too bright to be kept back with the dunderheads he admitted to himself.

"I am pleased that they met your high standards." He growled at her, but like Ginny, she seemed to have developed immunity to his biting sarcasm and she merely nodded before moving away from him and back to the dance. Weasley claimed her for a waltz and did a creditable job of it, though as Arthur and Molly's son he should have done even better. They had been Hogsmeade's dance champions two years running after all.

Nearby he spotted Fauna, she stood alone, her gaze distant and unfocused. She was another burden for him to shoulder. Minuet moved up beside the other girl with a glass of punch and Fauna came awake enough to accept it with a small smile. It was a shadow of the girl he had known that stood there now, but she was alive and perhaps with time she would mend. Minuet's loyalty and friendship was almost Hufflepuffian, but Severus could not help but be grateful.

Fauna had nightmares most nights and Minuet's care and attention to her kept Severus from having to spend every night soothing the traumatized girl. Fauna flinched from human contact and especially from males of any kind. It made it very hard for him to help her; he knew he would have to turn her over to Kathryn, but he was reluctant to admit himself at a loss, even to her.

He strode through the hallways and chased snogging students out of dark corners and empty classrooms. He stalked through the rose garden only to stop short as soft whispers came to his ears. He turned a corner and found Minuet and Harry sitting side by side on a bench. They held hands but they were the only couple he had found that evening that wasn't locked in a clumsy embrace.

"We have to keep it quiet. Draco is okay but who knows which of the Slyths are writing home to Death Eater parents." Harry said gently to the younger girl. "Professor Snape could get in serious trouble for this." He heard Min sigh and nod.

"I don't want Uncle Severus to get in trouble but I wish we could dance together." Minuet's voice had taken on a wistful quality and Harry dropped a kiss on her hand, which was gentle and almost chaste.

Severus was amazed by the boy's self-control. Not only was he finally thinking about the consequences of his actions, but he also wasn't snogging the younger girl uncontrollably. Perhaps he had grown up more than Severus had given him credit for. Severus cast a warding charm around the young couple to keep them from being noticed by the other students and then left them sitting on the bench in the darkness.


	17. A Day in the Life of a DADA Teacher

Chapter 17 – A Day in the Life of a DADA Teacher

Kathryn woke to the sound of Ryan's howls and dragged herself from bed with a weary sigh. She shuffled over to the bassinet and lifted the baby into her arms. She popped the warm bottle into his mouth as she yawned and waited for him to become involved enough in feeding that she could sit down and readjust him. 

Severus cracked an eye open, his stubbled chin scraped the pillowcase with an audible rasp as he yawned and he slid from under the covers with a grumble and a groan. She watched with bleary-eyed affection as he stumbled into the bathroom. 

Ryan re-claimed her attention and she kissed the top of his head as he suckled hungrily. He was almost three months old; she marveled at how quickly he was growing. He was also becoming more aware, paying closer attention to his surroundings and showing an inclination to wriggle his hands in front of his face and stare at them endlessly. He was dear and wonderful and she was madly in love with the little boy but she was also exhausted. 

He still woke randomly in the night and there was no sign that he was ready to settle down into a regular pattern. Neither she nor Severus was getting enough sleep, but neither one of them was willing to give up the precious time they had with the baby either.

Ryan could obviously tell the difference between them and sometimes fussed for one or the other of them in particular. The first time he had calmed down in her arms after rejecting Severus' attempts to ease him, she had felt needed and warm all over. 

As far as she was concerned, Ryan was as much her son as Severus' and even though they were not yet thinking about marriage and adoption, Severus agreed. She knew she wanted to marry Severus but neither of them had a clue as to what Voldemort had up his sleeve in regards to them. Until they did, the danger was too great to risk.

Severus exited the bathroom, looking cleaner and slightly more awake. She handed Ryan off to him for burping and she showered and changed while he took care of diapers and dressed Ryan for the day.

They switched again for the walk to breakfast; Kathryn bouncing Ryan on her hip while Severus strode beside her. They had decided early on that her dignity suffered less with a baby in her arms than his did.

They settled into their seats. Ryan had a little high chair that drifted beside the High Table; Filius had charmed it to float and it was incredibly convenient. She took turns with Severus at feeding the baby, allowing them both to eat as well and then Minerva whisked him away to be petted and cosseted. Kathryn had no clue as to how Ryan would ever take his 'Aunt Minnie' seriously as a transfiguration teacher in eleven years, but she had faith in Minerva's ability to juggle the relationship well.

She herself wondered how she would ever manage to treat him the same as the other students. Minuet waved at her as she ate and Kathryn nodded to her with a smile. On the other hand, she most certainly liked certain students more than others and yet she managed, she hoped, to be fair and equitable in class. Ryan should be no different from Min, Draco, Harry or any of the others that she had grown close to.

The number of stares and whispers had died down significantly in the last two months; Ryan was quickly being sorted into the same category as the ghosts and the pictures -- just one more integral part of Hogwarts. The staff's united front had helped as well; even the Lion Cubs could hardly insult the child while their Head of House was cooing at him. Albus' obvious affection for the baby was the clincher though -- few were willing to say anything about Ryan after they had seen the Headmaster dandle the baby on his knee.

She supposed that it also helped that he was the most adorable child -- friendly, happy, outgoing and cute as a button. Had Severus been available, Ryan would have been the perfect 'chick magnet'. As it was, even without Winky there would have been a surfeit of young girls who wanted to play with him and were more than willing to baby-sit. 

Severus was finding that he was rapidly being reassessed by a segment of the female population and he hated it. The girls were divided between those that thought he was rapist (because that was the only way he would have gotten a woman into bed with him.) and those who thought that there was some unhappy romance behind Ryan. Since Severus' relationship with Kathryn wasn't generally known, it was seen as kindness on her part that she was helping him with the baby, which confused the issue even more since no one doubted that if he had been a rapist, she would have hexed his balls off.

Kathryn glanced around at the tables, her eyes coming to a stop at the Slytherins. Draco looked tired and he was flanked by Crabbe and Goyle again today. They had settled into the role of permanent bodyguards since the 'incident' and no longer left his side. Helena was seated across from him along with Minuet and they were both deflecting attention away from him. A quick glance to the left and she could see Harry studiously ignoring the Snakes and she suppressed a tiny smile. He was at least working hard at being discrete. 

After breakfast, Winky took Ryan, who was making happy gurgling noises, and then the two Professors went off to teach their respective classes. Kathryn had the students from her previous year trained into obedience and this year's crop of first-years was learning not to mess with her. With both Harry and Draco on her side, she had little trouble with either the Gryffindors or the Slytherins; a frown or a tapping foot was enough to keep them in line.

Lunch was taken at the High Table again and Severus had a fierce scowl on his face that told her he had suffered some disaster or another, she arched an eyebrow at him.

"You would think the brewing of Veritaserum would be simple enough for seventh year Ravenclaws." He snarled, his slender fingers curled around his fork as though it were a student's throat.

"I take it that wasn't the case?" She asked because it was expected, the answer was obvious in his expression.

"If it was, do you think it would have resulted in three cauldrons melting and two small explosions?" Obviously a rhetorical question and she smiled at him.

"Poor honey, you can at least look forward to a long peaceful evening curled up in front of the fire with both myself and Ryan in attendance." This perked him up a bit and Kathryn was rewarded for her efforts with a little squeeze on her knee which promised pleasures more carnal as well.

The afternoon classes had just ended when the screaming began. Kathryn ran at top speed towards the sound of a high-pitched shrieking punctuated with Ryan's howls. The baby's shrieks sent her into a cold terror that propelled her at top speed. She leapt a banister and dodged through a clump of slow moving Hufflepuffs to find herself in the midst of chaos.

Winky was clutching Ryan against her while a rather singed and bedraggled woman with scarlet red robes and honey blonde hair was shrieking at the diminutive house elf like a fishwife. The woman was hysterical, there was a smoking hole in the front of her robes, and she was gesturing to it and screaming in a pitch that only dogs could hear. Students clustered around staring with mouths agape.

"You stupid little bint! You give me that child and get your ugly face away from me!" The woman screeched.

"Winky." Kathryn said calmly, Winky whirled and spotting her, rushed over gladly. Kathryn took the baby and held him to her. "You will cease that appalling noise, madam, and calm yourself." Kathryn snapped at the stranger. The woman heaved her considerable cleavage and looked as though she was ready to burst forth with a stream of invective.

Kathryn silenced her with a wave of her wand and glowered.

"This is an institution of learning, madam. There are children present and your use of such language is highly inappropriate." The students were staring back and forth with interest as Kathryn calmed Ryan while dealing with the furious woman. 

A tall saturnine man entered at that moment with another woman, this one small and dark, and a young girl who looked startlingly like Minuet. A dark suspicion began to rouse in Kathryn's mind and she smiled with an evil expression that stilled the silently sputtering woman more thoroughly than any polite words could have.

"What have you done to my wife?" The man shouted and Kathryn was glad to see that Severus must indeed look more like his grandfather because his father, while a tall man with black hair, had tanned skin and the rugged look that years of doing nothing but playing Quidditch and bullying people gives you. The family nose was prominent on him as well, but Kathryn did not find it as appealing.

"I silenced her and I will do the same to you if you do not lower your voice. This is a school, not a pub!" She retorted sharply.

"Give me my grandson and go away, woman!" The man blustered and Kathryn prepared herself to hex the living daylights out of him. She had wanted to do exactly that for some time now and she knew that she would enjoy it immensely.

"Father." Kathryn had never heard Severus' voice quite so icy cold before. He swept into the front hall with an expression of forbidding chill. Kathryn gave a silent cheer as he came to stand beside her and accepted Ryan from her. Winky ducked behind Severus still looking terrified.

Wand held loosely at her side, Kathryn was ready to hex them both at his word.

"Severus." The man replied with a sneer.

"Perhaps we can discuss whatever brought you here somewhere more private." The raised brow and supercilious expression should have chastened anyone with an ounce of sense but Severus' father obviously had no sense at all. 

The interesting thing was how quickly his mother had deflated when her husband walked in. She cowered away from the man. All her bravado was gone the instant he appeared. As the elder Mr. Snape opened his mouth to resume shouting, Kathryn silenced him and then put him in a full-body bind. The students cheered and laughed, but the crowd quickly dissipated and hurried away as Severus frowned at them. 

Severus gave her an eyebrow as she proceeded to levitate the older man behind her leading them to one of the private lounges. The rest of the group fell in behind her and somehow, they all ended up sitting about a fireplace with tea and crumpets and Severus' father trussed up like a Thanksgiving turkey on the floor. 

"Now, what brings you to Hogwarts?" Kathryn asked Mrs. Ravagienne, who had Minuet's beauty but without the stubborn chin that gave her the personality and fire Kathryn so admired. Tina was watching the entire event from behind her mother's voluminous skirts.

"Um, well…Malingus and Fern heard from Minuet's letters that Severus had a baby and they decided that they would like to come see him." Malingus? Whoever named the men in that family, Kathryn thought with some horror, had a sick sense of humor. It certainly explained their sour tempers.

"Had I thought that my son was any business of my parents' I would have informed them myself." Severus replied in frosty tones, his eyes fixed on a distant point over his mother's head.

Kathryn cancelled the charm on Fern Snape, feeling that being married to a man named Malingus was punishment enough.

"Not our business, Sevvie? But, he's our grandson, the next Snape!" Kathryn winced; no one called Severus by diminutives and lived. She only got away with it because he was rather fond of her but she didn't push it either. There was a world of difference between Sev and Sevvie.

"Actually, Mother, he is not the next Snape, he is the next Black." Severus informed her with icicles hanging off each word. Kathryn nodded slowly to herself; yes, he would be, wouldn't he, what with Sirius dead and the line going to the oldest son of the next generation. "He is Bellatrix Lestrange's child and therefore heir to the Blacks. He has nothing to do with the Snapes." 

Fern looked rather shocked by his admission and her husband was glaring fiercely in an obvious rage from the floor.

"Bellatrix Lestrange, but isn't she married?" Kathryn gave Severus' mother another look. The woman finds out her son has had sexual relations with the most infamous of the Death Eaters and all she can comment on is her marital state? She must be mad, or else criminally stupid.

"Yes, Mother." Severus agreed without additional comment. She could see where the habit came from; why bother explaining anything to people who wouldn't listen to you no matter what you said?

"Well, she is from a good family." His mother conceded somewhat at a loss for what to say. Kathryn tried to put the words 'Black' and 'good family' together in her mind and failed. She wondered what realm of imagination Fern Snape existed in because it certainly wasn't the same reality as the one Kathryn lived in. Severus buried his head in his hands for a moment and then straightened. 

Kathryn released the binding on Malingus Snape at Severus' signal, but with reluctance, for she found the man much more bearable when bound and gagged.

"You fucking whore! How dare you!" He raged. She gave him her coolest aristocratic sneer.

"Mother was obviously right about the Snapes, more money than breeding. How ever did you come out so well, Severus?" She eyed the older man with distaste.

"Your mother? Some mudblood gutter trash no doubt!" Malingus spat with contempt.

"Actually my mother is Georgiana Leblanc, neé Laveau." She informed him with a small frown. His mouth shut tightly, the unspoken rule of 'never offend a Laveau' hitting his consciousness with great impact. Few were stupid enough to make an enemy of Grand-mére Marie, and never repeated it if they did.

"I met her at your Grandmother Olivia's some years ago, charming woman." Mrs. Ravagienne smoothed the moment over with a nervous smile and Kathryn gave her a gracious nod that she copied from Grandmother Olivia. It worked just as well second-hand, she noted with some amusement. She still wanted to hex the bullying bastard but Severus had a tightness to his jaw that told her he was feeling rather fragile.

"He is still our grandson and we should have been informed of his birth; there are papers to be drawn up…" His father began, but Severus cut him off with a swift chopping motion.

"This is the extent of all contact you will ever have with my son." He informed them coolly. "In case of my demise, Professor Leblanc will receive custody and in case of her demise, custody will go to the Weasleys along with maintenance monies and…" He was cut off by a howl of rage from his father. Ryan, who had calmed by then, began to cry again and Kathryn lost her temper.

"Shut up, you insufferable man!" She raged. "What the hell makes you think you have any rights here? You are a miserable excuse for a father and you are lucky Severus is too well mannered to let me hex you into the next century! I would like to turn you inside out for what you've done to him! You will march yourself out of here and don't you dare come back or I swear I shall curse you in ways that even St. Mungo's cannot cure!" As she spoke her voice dropped lower and lower until she was simply snarling the last sentence. His parents were shell-shocked and white, but Mrs. Ravagienne had a tiny smile on her face, quickly hidden.

"Very well, we will go, but we won't take care of your problems anymore either." Mr. Snape jerked a thumb at Mrs. Ravagienne and Tina, who was peering out wide-eyed from behind her mother.

"Well, I have trespassed on your hospitality long enough." Mrs. Ravagienne responded with a polite smile, as though the Snapes had behaved with perfect propriety. Kathryn studied the other woman with some curiosity; there was more there than met the eye.

"I am more than capable of seeing to Mrs. Ravagienne's requirements." Severus replied equally graciously. Malingus grabbed his wife by the wrist and dragged the rather wilted Fern from the room.

"What happened to her dress?" Severus asked.

"Winky was defending Ryan from her." Kathryn answered with a smile.

"Remind me to buy Winky a dress towel." He muttered.

Tina and Mrs. Ravagienne sat quietly on the couch watching them both with expectant eyes and Kathryn wondered just how large this circle of dependants was going to grow to.


	18. House of Cards

Chapter18 – House of Cards

Severus settled the mother and daughter into the Hogwarts guest chambers nearest Slytherin. Having the widow of a Death Eater at the school was guaranteed to be a problem. As calmly as Allegra had taken her expulsion from Snape Manor, she would end up in tears at some point if he couldn't find her somewhere to live.

Kathryn was watching him as he cradled his son and rocked. The rocking chair had been brought from Grimmauld Place along with Ryan's other furniture and Severus found it as relaxing as Ryan did. Dealing with his parents always made him want to curl up in a ball every time. It was by force alone of will that he was able to remain standing before his father and act as though he was unaffected by the man's presence. There was a time when he tried to defend his mother but she had used up his sympathy years ago and now he was unmoved. 

Over the years, people had tried to get her away from Malingus but she always refused their help, choosing to stay at his side no matter what he did to her. Severus had thought it was loyalty when he was young, later he had thought that maybe she really loved him. It was years before he came to understand that his mother valued what his father could give her over her own happiness and personal safety; the realization that she would let him beat her if only she could buy pretty baubles and stay ahead of fashion had revolted him and he had cut his last ties with the family. He couldn't comprehend what kind of upbringing she had had that made Malingus seem acceptable in comparison. He supposed that she was rather mad.

He shook off his thoughts and met Kathryn's eyes.

"So much for a quiet evening at home." He grumbled. Ryan was drifting off to sleep and Kathryn grinned up at him.

"Well, we can a have a noisy evening at home." He was caught up in her eyes, in how she looked at him, as though he was handsome and desirable. He returned her smile tenderly. She loved him -- it was there in her face, her voice, her touch, and it was quite intoxicating. She came and knelt before him kissing him over the top of the baby's head and her lips were soft and sweet. Her kiss was an addiction he would never willingly break.

"I missed you a great deal over the summer, you know." He murmured against her lips.

"Show me." Her eyes were smoldering with desire and he was caught in the intensity of her dark-eyed gaze.

"Gladly." He responded, dropping his voice in the way that made her shiver.

She picked Ryan up and deposited him in his bassinet and they retreated to the bedroom to do everything but sleep.

He dreamed that night of sitting down to dinner with Kathryn and their children. Ryan, Minuet and Tina chattered happily to three little girls with dark eyes and brown hair. Allegra was passing a plate of beef to the eldest girl when a cold wind whipped through the room. Screaming started and green light came from everywhere and began to envelope his family. He cried out and tried to protect them but he was helpless as they fell one by one. He was kneeling in a pile of bodies sobbing as Kathryn's eyes went glassy and dead when he awoke to her voice.

"Severus, beloved, you're dreaming." He clung to her, his face wet from tears and she stroked his hair, murmuring soothingly to him. "Nightmare?" She questioned as she kissed his brow.

"You and the children were being killed and I couldn't stop it." He admitted and she kissed him all over his face. 

"I'm here, beloved and I love you." He buried his head in her chest and tried to calm himself but the image of her eyes going blank and lifeless haunted him.

"How am I going to get through this, Kat?" He whispered, still shivering in reaction. 

"The way you always have love, by doing what needs to be done." She said quite sensibly and he snuggled against her warmth and fell back asleep.

The next day dawned bright and clear and Severus dismissed the nightmare as a product of his father's visit. It was Saturday and a Hogsmeade weekend; he had to chaperone the students and he would have to find somewhere for the Ravagienne family to live on top of everything else. He groaned and warm arms snaked about his waist. Ryan was still sleeping from his four a.m. feeding, so he turned and snuggled into Kathryn's arms.

"Where am I going to put Allegra and Tina?" He groaned again.

"We could mail them off to Grand-mére's house." Kathryn murmured and began kissing his stubbled chin. Severus tried to imagine Allegra surrounded by the huge boisterous Laveau clan and chuckled.

"I was thinking Hogsmeade; Minuet would be less emotionally volatile if they were nearby." He dragged himself from bed and headed towards the shower.

"You mean she would be happier. Admit it, you like children!" Kathryn teased him and followed him into the bathroom. The toilet was in its own little room so he was able to shut the door on her chuckles with an irritated snap.

He was discovering that he liked certain children, but most of them gave him a migraine. They were spoiled rotten little brats, running around screaming and pushing all the time. Parents let them run wild and then wondered why their precious angels turned into narcissistic bullies. In his view, dying was probably the best parental choice the Potters could have made. At least Harry hadn't grown up to be the kind of swaggering bully that James had been. Oh certainly the boy had his faults -- too impulsive by far -- but at least he had had the taste to fall for a Slytherin girl rather than some simpering Hufflepuff or brain-dead Gryffindor. 

Not that Severus would ever say anything to indicate his approval of the match. Minuet was still far too young for anything of the sort and if Potter tried any funny stuff… well, there were a few hexes that boy didn't know yet.

He exited the stall to find Kathryn sitting on the floor of the shower, naked, with Ryan splashing happily in the spray. She had charmed the water into a far more gentle mist and Ryan was giggling and making swimming gestures as he kicked happily. Severus stripped and joined his family in the shower, cuddling up with the two most important people in his life. 

A few hours later he was remembering why he really did hate children and vowing he would never allow such behavior in any child of his. Children were running and screaming through Hogsmeade in the November sun, tossing Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes at each other and setting the whole town on its ear.

After the third time he had to rescue a child from a dragon firework that was chasing them through town, he was cursing Fred and George's inventive and evil minds and imagining using Imperius on them to have them ask Narcissa for a threesome. That should put them off their feed for a few years. 

A quick discussion with a land agent in town, and he had rented a pleasant little cottage for Allegra and Tina to live in. It was much smaller than the grand mansions they were used to, but it had a pretty parlor and three bedrooms, so Minuet would have a place to stay over the summer if she chose to. It even had a library, stocked with volumes that would intrigue her and Tina.

As he exited the agent's offices, he spotted Ron Weasley chatting up a pretty redhead and he rolled his eyes in disgust. Sixteen-year-old boys had no sense at all. If Miss Granger were to spot him at this moment he would be swiftly without a girlfriend. He very much doubted that Miss Granger would put up with any of Weasley's immature nonsense.

On second glance, the girl was wearing a Ravenclaw uniform but he didn't immediately recognize her. That wasn't surprising -- except for the girls of his own house, he never paid any heed to the parade of hormonal teens that passed through his classroom, avoiding them whenever possible; the sound of their incessant chattering and giggling drove him mad. 

He spotted Minuet with her black hair and robes standing forlornly beside the pale blonde Draco, who was giving her a lecture while Crabbe and Goyle stood guard. Severus dismissed the Weasley boy from his mind and approached them.

"I know Min, but you know it isn't safe. The Shack isn't anywhere near private enough." Draco tilted her chin up and looked at her with surprisingly compassionate eyes. "Crabbe and Goyle will take you to Honeyduke's and I'll go let down your paramour." She sighed and nodded.

"If you think it's for the best, Draco." She responded reluctantly.

"Perhaps Mr. Crabbe and Mr. Goyle had best accompany you, Mr. Malfoy. I will escort my ward." Severus cut into the discussion and Draco looked up in what Severus could swear was relief and nodded. Was Draco nervous about telling Potter that his girlfriend couldn't make their tryst? 

The three young men departed and Severus extended an arm to Minuet who took it with a longing backwards glance at the Shrieking Shack.

"He is at least trying to be discreet, I see. One must allow for the stupidity of youth, I suppose." Severus grumbled and Minuet smiled up at him as though he had given the boy a compliment. The trip to the sweet shop was uneventful and he allowed himself to actually enjoy time spent in the company of Minuet. 

An hour later and Draco still had not returned; Severus passed Minuet off to Kathryn and went in search of his lost Snake.

The walk to the shack was filled with memories of his own school days. He remembered the taunts and jeers of other students, the pains and agonies of the outcast and despised. He could almost hear James' voice calling 'Snivellus' after him as he walked. He wondered what James would have said if he had seen him with Kathryn on his arm. The thought of James Potter staring at him in a rage of envy made him feel savagely gleeful.

He reached the shack and walked up to the door. His memories of this place were not of the best. He had not forgotten the humiliation of being attacked by the Terrible Trio and Lupin's reversion to type. He remembered Black's snarling, twisted features quite clearly as he opened the door. Voices drifted down to him from upstairs.

"Your parents might be dead, Potter, but at least you know they really loved you. My father couldn't care less about me as long as I 'fulfill my duties as a Malfoy' and my mother… well, just don't get me started." Draco's bitter aristocratic tones were scathing.

"True, but -- and I cannot believe I am saying this -- at least you have Snape. He really cares about you and he is still alive." Harry's voice was amused. Severus could tell that a part of the boy was laughing at himself for envying Draco his relationship with the snarky Professor Snape.

"Potter, you look like you want to cut out your own tongue!" Draco's laughter was obviously aimed at the irony of the situation.

"Yeah, well… Minuet adores him; he treats her really well, and Professor Leblanc loves him and she's really smart about people. She can really see what is inside you and if she can see something good enough in him to fall in love, then he must be pretty special." A ringing endorsement, Severus thought with a small smile.

"He is." Was all Draco said, but the way he said it made Severus' heart swell. 

"So, you think the Shack isn't safe enough to see Min at." Harry stated.

"Yeah, I do." Draco tossed out with a bored tone.

"Well, I'll trust you on that. After all, you're the Slytherin; sneaky is more your expertise than mine, Malfoy." Potter teased.

"Yeah, well, I'll leave all the mindless heroics to you, Potter." There was laughter at that, Crabbe and Goyle joining in after a beat.

Severus banged the door behind him to alert them of his presence.

"Malfoy!" He called out. 

The group of boys came clattering down the staircase, still grinning. It was a very strange sight, Draco, Potter, Crabbe and Goyle, not exactly the best of friends, but certainly not eternal enemies either, with adolescent amusement shining in their eyes. Severus hoped to Merlin that Voldemort never found out. 


	19. Tumbling Down

Chapter 19 – Tumbling Down

Kathryn opened the Daily Prophet at breakfast and felt her heart sink into her shoes. "Dementors Abandon Azkaban, Prisoners Escape!" screamed the headline and while it scared her to know how many of his Death Eaters Voldemort would have at his side again, Kathryn couldn't help wondering why it had taken even this long. 

A low rumble of voices came to her. She saw the paper being passed among the students and the ripple of panic that followed in its wake and sighed. The fear she was attempting to combat would only be heightened by the news. She passed the paper to Severus. He read the headline and raised an eyebrow at her, otherwise remaining emotionless before the audience of students. 

Ryan kicked his legs in the high chair and made a happy little squealing noise that caused a ripple of laughter to move through the student body. It dissipated the burgeoning fear and Kathryn smiled at the baby, grateful for the distraction.

The brilliant sunshine that poured through the windows and the crisp clear sky above them made it hard to accept the reality of the dark terrors that lay outside the school. She hoped that the children would absorb the news and quickly settle down.

Her hopes were in vain, however, and classes were unbearably tense that day, the children taking the Defense lessons far more seriously than usual. It was gratifying as a teacher to have students hanging on your every word, but as an adult looking into the scared faces of young children, she was shaken by it. 

She had overheard Harry's comment in the Library about her adding the ancient dark creatures to the curriculum and she had done so, of course. Fauna looked pale and stricken in the class as Kathryn described how the ancient Dark Ones fed upon the fears and secret desires of others. She described the Ancients' battles between the Elves and the powers of the Dark. She talked about ways of recognizing them, how sly they were and how they could appear as something fair and beautiful to trick the unwary. The classes were mesmerized by the information, shivering in fear and vowing to be vigilant. She hoped it was enough.

That evening, Albus called an emergency teachers' meeting to discuss the breakout from Azkaban. The teachers congregated in the lounge with faces gone serious and still. When Voldemort attacked, the school would be a major target; Albus and Harry's presence here dictated that. Every one of them knew that their academic instruction could change in an instant to that of very practical applications. 

It was a strange setting for a council of war. Chintz and floral patterned chairs, lace edged shelves. Teapots, cups, plates piled high with scones and academics of all ages clustered about an old table covered with plaid tablecloth.

Some of them already had experience with combat and battle -- Minerva had fought beside Albus against the dark wizard Grindelwald, Filius had worked in the underground during the war creating Charms for the allied wizarding communities but he had had to fight as well. Madam Pince had been a deadly killer, Kathryn was secretly amused to learn, having gone behind enemy lines to eliminate the Nazi's Wizard allies, one by one. But the rest of them had been born after the war, in the days of peace. Many of them had fought seventeen years ago when last Voldemort attacked, but some, like Sinistra, Pomfrey, Sprout and Vector, simply had never raised a wand in combat before and had no clue how to go about it.

They were a frightened group of would-be soldiers: teachers and nurses and scholars turning their minds to the defense of the children in their care, to the defense of the castle.

From her perch on the arm of Severus' chair, with his hand at her waist and his warmth beside her, Kathryn watched as they discussed the breakout.

"Why did he wait so long?" Minerva asked Albus with a sigh.

"I think I may be able to answer that." Kathryn piped up. She had been thinking about it all day and now as every head swiveled to look at her she shrugged. "I think it has to do with his new allies." There was a general shudder. "As the Headmaster told you, they feed off fears, much as the Dementors do. In fact, some scholars theorize that the Elder Dark spawned the Dementors, since there is no record of their having existed in ancient times."

"So, you think that Voldemort plans to use the Elder Dark to better control the Dementors." Albus murmured thoughtfully. "It would make a great deal of sense. The bargain he struck with them to give them free reign in feeding would have to run out at some point. The Dementors are insatiable, always hungry; even Voldemort would eventually run out of food for them."

"Precisely! However if he had control of the Elder Dark, they could compel the Dementors to obey regardless. But there is also another reason why he might have waited to free them." She had their attention now and she took a deep breath. "He may not have wanted them back sane. The longer they were in Azkaban under Dementor control, the less grasp they would have on their sanity"

Silence fell as they thought about that.

"They were already a rather unstable group." Severus pointed out.

"Not Malfoy, he was quite sane." Kathryn retorted.

"There are some who would argue that point, Kathryn, but I do understand your meaning." Severus responded thoughtfully. "He might have been a sadistic bastard, but he was clear-headed most of the time. More than a year in Azkaban would have changed that." He nodded at her.

"But why?" Vector wailed. "They are his allies!"

"Would you go along with someone who has allied himself with the Elder Dark?" Minerva asked with a stern look over her glasses. There was restless shuffling.

Severus remained silent; only Hagrid, Kathryn, Minerva and Albus knew of his spying efforts and if he said too much, the others might begin to wonder how he had gained such knowledge. Kathryn squeezed his hand, trying to let him know how much she loved him and understood his frustrations in not being able to be utterly forthright with his own allies.

"I would imagine that there are several very nervous Death Eaters in Voldemort's service right now." Albus spoke the words that Severus could not. "At least the sane ones would be quite likely to be fearful of his new 'allies'."

"Perhaps having spent so much time under the Dementors makes them more vulnerable to the Elder Dark?" Sinistra looked up from her ubiquitous charts and pushed a lock of hair from her eyes. They all turned to look at her in surprise; Sinistra so rarely spoke that it was a shock at times to hear her voice. She met their gazes calmly and then dropped back to her charts again. 

Sibyll, her huge glasses glinting and her shawls draped over her in a display of foolishness that made Kathryn very impatient, leaned forward to speak.

"Grandmother used to say that the very young, the very old and the very mad were the most easily influenced by the Dark." It was such a sensible statement that Kathryn stared at Sibyll openly. "I see a dark time before us all; we must watch the students carefully." Had it not been for the dramatic pose she struck and the way she let the words trail off to spooky effect, Kathryn would almost have gained a modicum of respect for the woman. If only the woman didn't try to dress like how she imagined a gypsy fortuneteller looked when she was so obviously as English as they come, Kathryn might have been able to feel something other than repelled.

"I should think that would be obvious, Sibyll." Minerva snapped and Trelawney huffed and subsided back into silence. Firenze, who was settled down on the floor with his hooves tucked neatly beneath him frowned.

"The stars are vague right now; they speak of danger and war. They speak also of threats both subtle and obvious, but they do not speak of an outcome." He shifted restlessly, and Sibyll shot him a venomous look. The ongoing rivalry between the two Divination teachers was amusing to the rest of the staff. They each thought the other to be a fraud and the division of their classes -- with Firenze teaching the N.E.W.T.s classes and Sibyll teaching the younger students -- made for a schizophrenic course.

Binns floated forward and tilted his head in contemplation. 

"There is some mention of the Ancient Dark in history." His usual monotone had become thoughtful and they all leaned forwards to listen. "They are shunned by most wizards because of their treacherous nature, but in 1322, Middlefinch the Mad bargained successfully with them."

"Successfully? How on earth did he manage it?" Minerva's eyes gleamed and she leaned forwards in fascination. Binns seemed a bit taken aback by the scrutiny and Kathryn wondered if he didn't deliberately make his classes dull because he was naturally shy.

"Well, his own madness didn't allow for him to feel fear or lust, so he was immune to their draining effect, but he provided them with people who were vulnerable to feed upon in his stead." Binn's words dropped like stones and Kathryn clutched Severus' hand hard.

Suddenly the party made sense; Voldemort had been giving them food. Ordering Severus to torture the Muggle girl had been an attempt to provide them with sustenance. Kathryn was terrified, scared she could lose Severus to the Dark Ones and she was white and frightened. Her own fear was lost in the general shudder, but Severus pulled her into his lap and tucked her head under his chin. She saw Albus' worried gaze resting on them but she was too concerned for Severus to return his look. Even a man as strong as Severus could be tempted and to give even a little could be fatal. 

She drew in a deep breath. She would simply have to trust him and give him all of her support and love. There was nothing else to do. She could not ask him to stop spying, it was too important to the Order and it was how he felt he was redeeming himself from his youthful mistakes. Another breath and she relaxed against him, realizing that the conversation had swirled on around her without her awareness of anything but Severus holding her and her own terrors.

"But if he feeds his own people to them won't they rebel?" Vector was asking with a perplexed air.

"They won't necessarily know what he's done to them for years. The process of draining can take a very long time." Kathryn replied from within the circle of Severus' arms.

"How do you know so much about them?" Madam Pince asked suddenly.

"Almost twenty years as an Auror, Madam." She replied calmly, trying not to lose her temper.

"So you say, but I've done some digging and there is little record of you for the last decade or so. There you sit, cuddled up to a man who was a known Death Eater telling us about the Dark. Why should we trust you?" Her words were venomous and she could feel Severus stiffen beneath her. The other teachers were appalled by her words, but they stayed out of it.

"Because I tell you to." Albus said quietly.

"You believed Quirrell was fine and you trusted the fake Moody! What's to say that those two are any different! Where did that baby come from? You've never really said. What did he do to make you trust him, eh? Why should we believe that he's not a Death Eater still? Who's to say he and his whore haven't already gone over to the Dark?" Pince was screaming now, fury writ in every line of her body and Kathryn stared at her in shock and dismay. Her hair was wild and spittle flew from her lips as she shrieked. "They'll betray us!"

The other teachers were silent and still, staring at Pince in horror. Severus clutched Kathryn to him as though she would be snatched from him at any moment and Kathryn was so stunned she couldn't reply, simply staring at the other woman.

"They will get us killed!" She snarled at them.

"That's enough Irma!" Minerva shouted and slammed her hands on the table. The librarian subsided but her eyes had lost none of their suspicion or hatred.

"Irma." Albus said softly, his eyes filled with sorrow and disappointment. Kathryn looked into the older woman's eyes and knew what she was seeing.

"Madam Pince." Kathryn began, pulling herself from Severus' embrace. "You know nothing about me; you certainly know nothing that could make you believe such things. Who has been whispering to you in the night?" she kept her voice low and polite, in direct contrast to Pince's fevered tones. The other teachers looked at Pince in sudden understanding. Albus paled as the realization washed over him.

"Shut up, you stupid cow! You whore! You're fucking the Head of Slytherin, what else is there to know? He's a Death Eater!" Kathryn sighed and closed her eyes. She hated doing this, as it was so terribly draining, but there was only ever one power that could oppose the Dark in full possession. She reached inside herself and pulled on the ancient magic of her blood.


	20. Shadows and Mist

Chapter 20 – Shadows and Mist

Severus was staring at Madam Pince in horror. He had never heard such vitriol being spewed from the woman before. He knew that his relationship with Kathryn had been a cause of bitterness and anger in the other woman but he couldn't understand why. He was taken aback by her sudden frenzy of loathing. They had, he thought, always got on well. 

"Madam Pince." Kathryn began, pulling herself from Severus' embrace. "You know nothing about me; you certainly know nothing that could make you believe such things. Who has been whispering to you in the night?" Her words, so calm and collected, made him sit up straight in sudden comprehension.

Gods, what must it be like to sit in that Library, day after day, watching the world pass you by -- no husband no children, no life outside of the books. Her bitterness and self-pity must have been eating her up for years. When they came to her whispering, what defenses would she have had against them?

"Shut up, you stupid cow! You whore! You're fucking the Head of Slytherin, what else is there to know? He's a Death Eater!" Severus felt as though he had been slapped. Irma's insult to him hurt far less than her words to Kathryn. Kathryn was the one pure thing in his life; the one redeeming feature in his soul was his love for her. "He's a rapist, a murderer, a torturer! He's filth and you make yourself dirty even touching him!" 

"Don' be sayin' that 'bout Pr'fessor Snape and Pr'fessor Leblanc!" Hagrid jumped up and shouted at the diminutive librarian, his face filled with outrage. "They done nothin' ta yeh and yeh have no right!" 

Severus was so bloodied by Irma's hate and warmed by Hagrid's defense that it took him a minute to realize that Kathryn was softly glowing.

Irma shrieked and drew back from Kathryn and the rest of the staff was staring at her in mixed expressions of fear and wonderment. Her ears seemed somehow more pointed and her body more slender, she gave off a strange radiance and light curled around her. Firenze lurched to his feet in surprise, eyes wide and chest heaving as though he had run a long distance.

"You are an Elder!" He cried in obvious surprise.

"Am I dirty, Madam Pince?" She asked and her voice seemed somehow more resonant. It was an absurd question; you could not look at her without seeing how meaningless Irma's accusations were. Irma seemed to blur then, as though part of her were splitting away from herself. He watched in fascination as she shrunk away from Kathryn, shielding her eyes from the glow.

Severus moved up beside his beloved and just stared. Several things he had observed in the past year clicked together in his mind. The medical records he had perused last September flashed before his eyes, the blood anomalies, well within normal variation, yet…The hints about her ancestress, the elves coming to Hogwarts, it all came together in his mind. The Elf in her was there just under the surface, even a hundred generations later. His only question was how? Surely, if all wizards were descended from the elves, then they should all be able to do this but Severus had never seen anything like it before.

She was intent on Irma, her focused gaze pinning the librarian. Albus was watching her with a stillness that Severus had never seen before and -- was it…guilt? Minerva and the rest of the staff looked like they were watching a particularly interesting Quidditch match, though Flitwick gazed almost wistfully at Kathryn.

Irma crumpled into her chair, suddenly no longer a vicious harridan, but a tiny sad woman with no real future before her. Kathryn faded back to being just Kathryn and Severus caught her as she crumpled. He lifted her tenderly and carried her from the room, not giving a damn about the meeting or any of the staff. No one but Minerva, Hagrid and Albus had defended him against Irma's accusations and the pain of that would take some time to heal. He took the back way to her chambers, which were closer, and settled her onto the couch before the fire.

Kathryn was trembling with reaction and Severus wrapped himself around her, curling her tight against his body on the spacious couch. She was soon asleep, her chest rising and falling beneath his arm, but it was a long time before he found any rest.

The next day the staff was subdued. Hagrid came and sat down very pointedly next to Snape at the breakfast table and played with Ryan happily all through the meal. For a huge man with a propensity for making pets of monstrous beasts, Hagrid was extremely gentle with the baby. 

Madam Pince was not at breakfast and Severus, for one, was very glad not to see her. Minerva had her lips tightly pursed and while Albus tried to look as placid as usual, even he seemed distracted. The others kept shooting surreptitious glances at Kathryn as though she would leap up on the table and grow wings at any moment. 

Kathryn was extremely pale and he knew she was horribly weak after her draining display, but she looked at ease and distant; in fact, she was the only person who was perfectly serene. Severus ate with savagery, trying not to stick anyone with a knife just because they believed what they were supposed to believe.

The unspoken suspicions of the rest of the staff had always been just that – unspoken. Now that someone, whether controlled by Dark powers or not, had broken the silence, they were all unsettled and thinking about things they had been trying not to for years. A seed of fear and dissension had been planted and nothing could uproot it now.

Having been suspected of being dark all of his life, even before he had been and after he had repented, Severus found it easy to move back into sullenness and anger, except for the hand that crept into his. Kathryn's fingers sought his beneath the table and she gave him the briefest of glances. The walls fell down again beneath her quiet assault and he gave her a wry grimace in return. Damn the woman, she simply wouldn't let him mope. He figured bursting into laughter at the High Table in front of the whole school would be blowing his cover a bit, so he simply stabbed at his food and stared at his plate, letting his hanging hair hide his smile.


	21. Smoke and Mirrors

Chapter 21 – Smoke and Mirrors

Minuet finished breakfast the way her entire House did, staring at Snape. Every meal was the same -- Snape was their weathervane and how he reacted told them which way the political winds were blowing for their House. The Slytherins were the outcast House, the House of loners and aristocrats, schemers and ladder climbers; they were therefore also the most vulnerable. The teachers, with the notable exception of Professor Leblanc, were harder on them than on the other Houses. The Slytherin reputation made the teachers more likely to believe in a Slytherin's guilt than in their innocence. It was a point of pride among the Snakes not to get in trouble with the teachers and they bent all their cunning to it.

The morning Snape Watch told them how hard it would be for them to achieve their goals that day. Today, Professor Snape looked tight-lipped and angry. They all knew there had been a teacher's meeting last night, probably about the breakouts from Azkaban. 

Minuet had a core bitterness about those breakouts. If her father hadn't been abandoned by the Dark Lord to rot in Azkaban, he might never have thought to deal with the Aurors and might now be alive. Of course, the very fact that Voldemort had known of the deal so quickly spoke either to the Dementors being more communicative than anyone thought or, far more likely, to a traitor within the Ministry. If Minuet ever figured out who had betrayed her father, she would be very tempted to try out some of the special moves Professor Leblanc was teaching her.

Snape's expression did not bode well for their classes. On the one hand, while McGonagall might purse her lips at the Slytherin students, she was never unfair. Neither was Hagrid, honestly. As inept as he was as a teacher – something that she would never say to Harry – he always treated all the students with the same bumbling sweetness. Binns showed no favoritism but then he showed no emotions at all so it didn't count, really. Hooch barked at everyone but she had been Slytherin herself once and therefore could be considered an ally, if only marginally. 

Vector, though -- she always found a way to make everything they did seem wrong. Trelawney, Fauna said, picked on the Snakes as well, predicting horrible deaths and betrayals far more frequently than she did for any other students. Flitwick tried to be fair but he was so emotional that his mind was transparent to the students. His innate distrust of them made the Snakes feel resentful of his cheer and affection for the other Houses. Madam Pince treated the Slytherins like they were the scum of the earth, but the feeling was mutual and she taught no classes. Sprout and Pomfrey were far less sympathetic to Slytherin ills and needs than the other Houses' and the Snakes knew they would get no extra help from them.

Argus Filch, on the other hand, loved Slytherin House. He apparently thought he would have been sorted into Slytherin had he ever attended Hogwarts. He was a joke to most of the House but they were all canny enough never to let on to him. Sinistra was truly neutral, unaware of anything beyond her chosen field and completely apolitical. Minuet found her class relaxing and peaceful, not least because she loved the subject.

Professor Leblanc looked supernally calm this morning, if rather pale. She ate her breakfast with a calm detachment that reminded Minuet strongly of the Elvish Minstrel; there was a similar stillness in her this morning. The other teachers kept looking at her as though she were somehow changed and Minuet wondered what had happened at the meeting. Whatever it was, it had upset the applecart because Uncle Severus looked furious. That never boded well for the House. She exchanged a look with Draco when Professor Snape speared a sausage with particular viciousness. It was going to be a bad day.

She couldn't have been more correct. It started in Arithmancy, which they had first with Ravenclaw. Professor Vector corrected every tiny mistake and was so angry that she couldn't penalize Minuet for errors in her work that she took points off her for giving fellow Slytherin Kelsey Lightwood an encouraging nod when she faltered with an equation on the board. Minuet suppressed her ire and took the reprimand; there was no reason to lose her House more points as she could see that fairness wasn't the issue.

She had Charms after that and Flitwick was even more flighty than usual. He was valiantly trying not to let his distress affect his teaching but he very nearly snapped at Fauna in class and he had been quite careful of her since her illness. Fauna was near tears by the end of it, unable to do even the simplest charm.

Lunch was hellish -- all the school seemed aware now that something was wrong. Uncle Severus was eating with a grim determination and Professor Leblanc looked as white as paper and seemed on the verge of collapse despite her ramrod straight back.

The other teachers seemed equally stressed and the tension twanged along all of their nerves. 

Double potions with Gryffindor after lunch was almost a relief in comparison. Professor Snape was his usual snarky self. The Lion Cubs, so arrogant and cocksure outside the Potions' classroom, were their usual cowed and terrified selves. It would have been perfectly normal except for the tension in Professor Snape's voice. After having spent a summer watching Uncle Severus in unguarded moments, she could see quite clearly that there was something wrong.

She waited until the other students had filed out and then approached his desk. He was seated behind it, his black silk-fine hair shielding his face, his hands clenched around his quill, marking papers.

"Professor?" She ventured, low-voiced and tentative.

"Miss Ravagienne." He acknowledged her presence and looked up at her with the mask-like expression he had been wearing all day still in place.

"Is everything all right?" She cocked her head at him in unconscious imitation of Professor Leblanc and he gave her a rueful smile.

"There are very few things going on at the moment that I would label as being all right." He retorted, the half-smile taking the sting from his words.

"Professor Leblanc looked a bit tired today." She tried to come to the question she wanted to ask from another direction. She had seen him over the summer, when he thought the Defense teacher wasn't coming back. Minuet remembered the melancholy that had surrounded him and then when she had seen him at the Welcome Feast, he had been re-energized, relaxed and dare she say it, happy. Now something was threatening that happiness and Minuet wanted to know what it was.

"The staff meeting went late." There was a finality to his tone that brooked no further enquiry. Minuet sighed and nodded, leaving him to his marking and headed to her dorm to drop off her books before dinner. 

She was looking forward to next weekend when she could spend the evening in Hogsmeade with Tina and her mother. They had moved into the cottage yesterday and Tina was enthusiastic and happy. Rufus, their house elf, brought with them from their old home, had been furiously arranging furniture and Mother had spoken of the new home with affection and contentment. 

A noise broke into her concentration, it sounded like screams and she followed the sounds on instinct, running up the dungeon steps, her books still clutched tight against her. There was a cluster of students staring in horror at a strange tableau. In the hallway in front of the Library stood Hermione Granger, hands clutched to her mouth, eyes glued on something out of Minuet's line of sight. She stepped forward for a better look, only to be grabbed and pulled away. Indignant she looked up, only to see an ashen-faced Harry, his hand clenched around her arm.

"What happened?" She whispered, his face telling her that whatever it was it was dreadful indeed.

"Madam Pince has hung herself in the Library." He croaked out and she stared at him in disbelief. "She's dead." He added and dragged her away from the crowd. Minuet didn't fight him or protest, she was far too shocked and horrified and deeply grateful that Harry had kept her from seeing the old woman's body. 

"But why?" There were so many questions she wanted to ask, but they all came down to that essential cry.

"Because They got to her, like They did to Fauna. I can smell Them all over this." Harry's voice was quietly certain and Minuet wondered what he had been seeing in his dreams lately. What horrors were creeping into his mind while he slept?

He got her into an alcove away from prying eyes and they wrapped their arms around each other and held on tight, each in a terror for the other.


	22. A Glass Half Full

Chapter 22 – A Glass Half Full

Kathryn sat in the Teacher's Lounge feeling the whip of guilt lashing her. Some Auror she was, not to have seen this coming, not to have headed it off somehow. Irma's body was in the Hospital Wing and Kathryn's feelings of grief and failure were eating at her. Dolly, one of the Hogwarts House Elves, had brought her a tray of tea things -- scones, jam, butter, and a steaming pot of her favorite Yorkshire blend -- but it was tasteless. She forced herself to choke it down, needing its fortification. Pulling on her blood the way she had last night left her weak and shaking for days afterwards. 

Poppy, her face grim, had been pouring Sanguineous Potions down her throat and Strength Potions as well. She had downed them without a complaint, too tired to resist.

They were fighting a losing battle here; she knew it in her bones. The Dark trio was both too devious and too subtle for them to fight against effectively. Severus was, she had realized, despite her earlier fears, probably the least endangered by the Dark right now. He had seen them first for what they were and this lessened their power over him. After her initial terror for him, she had to allow herself to truly think about his situation using the detachment that had once served her so well. Her panicked assessment of Voldemort's plans for him had eased before the ruthless march of her logical mind and she had begun to relax.

"Kathryn?" Severus' voice interrupted her thoughts and she turned and smiled at him with a pained air as he entered.

"Evening, Sev." She was too rattled and the nickname slipped out. She expected the eyebrow but he merely sank into the chair beside her and let out a loud sigh.

"I should have followed her back to her rooms last night and talked to her." He murmured almost inaudibly. 

"You were watching over me." Kathryn absolved him with a shake of the head. His silky black hair was hanging, shielding his face from view. She sighed; she hated it when he did that. There was something so self-protective about the gesture, as though he expected to be hit and didn't want to see the blow coming. "There were others here whose job it was to watch her." Like Albus, she didn't verbalize.

"Kathryn." His head came up slowly and he was watching her with his eyes gone so dark they seemed like black pools, glinting in the firelight. "What happened last night?" His voice was academic but his eyes were watchful and she scrubbed her face with her hands. How do you answer that one?

"Okay, you know that I am descended from Morgan Le Fey, right?" She asked, using a more modern term for her ancestress. He nodded, remembering the tales told over last Christmas in Lieu D'Asile. "Well, most of the Elves withdrew from the world, departed and took with them their…power, grace, interest…it's hard to describe. They withdrew themselves, not just from the world but from their half-blooded children as well. Morgan refused to abandon her children. She has stayed all these centuries, guarding and guiding us and because of our connection to her, we are all of us just a little more Elvish than the average Wizard or Witch."

Severus raised the eyebrow and looked at her thoughtfully.

"What about Tali and Remus, what sort of children will they have?" The question took her by surprise; she hadn't thought about the couple much since she had left Grimmauld Place.

"They will have true half-bloods. Their kids will make the Leblancs look very diluted of blood, no doubt." She chuckled at the thought. She knew whatever children they did have would be highly sought after for marriage, their abilities would be extraordinary. Remus could marry them off to the highest levels of Wizarding society; it would no doubt annoy him to find himself much courted by those that had shunned him before.

"What about us, if we have children?" Ah, she thought, looking up at his half-lidded eyes, the real question comes out. She leaned back in her chair and studied him.

"Did you want more children?" She tried to sound nonchalant -- after all, they weren't even sure when a marriage between them would be possible. "More hostages to fate?" She added with a wistful tone that she couldn't suppress.

"I once thought that I would find children an unbearable nuisance." Severus leaned back in the chair and stared into the lounge's fireplace with a pensive expression. "Since Ryan has been in my life -- well, honestly, since you have been in my life -- I have been changing my opinion of the matter."

Kathryn fought the urge to laugh. He was just so English sometimes, stiff and formal when his emotions were deeply affected. How this man who sat there discussing their future and his deepest feelings with an almost prim tone could be the same man who made her heart race with his kisses would always baffle her.

"I love you, Sev." This time she used the nickname deliberately, looking him in the eyes as she spoke. "You are the only man I've ever met whom I would be willing to marry and to have children with." His eyes lightened from a deep black of night to a lighter shade of rich mahogany and she knew that despite his austere expression that he was moved. "However, I think that now is not the time to be thinking about this. Not until we have finished with Voldemort."

"You're wrong, Kat. Now is precisely the time to discuss this. In the middle of death and despair is the best time to think of life and hope." His use of her family's nickname for her made her pause. She was surprised to hear such words from the perpetually pessimistic Severus.

"Wait, Mr. Doom and Gloom is preaching hope?" Now she did laugh, but it was a merry sound and not meant to ridicule.

"Perhaps you should not expect this attitude to be a common occurrence; however what I saw in Irma's face has made me reconsider certain thoughts." She stayed silent, watching him. The firelight played across his features -- the prominent nose, the sharp cheekbones, all the hollows and planes she had learned by heart. "I have realized that despair is an entrance for them into your soul. I don't want to give them anything they can use against me."

"Severus Snape, you are right and I was wrong. Mark this day in your calendar." He chuckled and she tucked her feet underneath her, getting more comfortable in the ugly floral chair. "I do want children with you." She admitted almost shyly and his answering smile made little frissons of delight run up and down her spine. 

"How many would you like?" She was startled by the question, she hadn't really thought this far ahead. She had been so caught up in the day-to-day struggle that she simply hadn't thought past Voldemort's defeat. He was right, she had let herself stop thinking about the future while she concentrated on this war; it was time to hope again.

"Well, less than seven." She admitted. Growing up in a crowded joyful house had been wonderful but the competition for her parents' attention had been intense. Her father had been loving and warm, but her mother's coldness had made them all desperate to receive her acknowledgement; with seven children that had made for some cutthroat politics.

"Less than seven… six then. So with Ryan, that would really only mean five for you." Kathryn found herself laughing; there he sat, adding up children on his fingers, as though he were working on a lesson plan. "I am willing to have another son, just to keep my parents away from me, but the rest should be girls." 

"Magnanimous of you, Severus. How do you intend to ensure genders?" She sipped her tea, finding it to be quite tasty really.

"Potions most likely; I am sure I could brew something appropriate." He waved an airy hand, mimicking Grand-mére's gesture with a smile. Illumination dawned in her; he was trying to make her laugh, to cheer her up. She set her teacup down and pulled herself out of her chair. To his obvious delight, she crawled onto his lap and curled up against him. 

"It's working, love, I feel better." She whispered as she kissed him.

"Good. This is not your fault, Kat. She was a hundred and twenty years old and she'd had all that time to become embittered and miserable. Whatever Mr. Fenchurch saw in her, whatever secrets and fears she harbored, they all existed long before either one of us was born. I regret the lack of foresight that made me blind to this last possibility but neither of us is responsible for her choice." He had wrapped his arms around her as he spoke and Kathryn wondered if there was any better place on earth to be than in his arms. Probably not, she decided and snuggled more deeply against him. "We have other and more important things to think about right now. Draco is still not completely recovered from his experience, Fauna is fragile, and Minuet and Harry are in a precarious situation."

"Anything else for us to worry about, my love?" Kathryn kissed him and smiled.

"Yes, when are we dueling for your job?" His wicked laugh made her shiver in delight.

"What are your plans for this evening?" She murmured suggestively.

His answer was a kiss -- deep, passionate, and full of life, a direct contrast to everything that had been happening around them of late.

Classes were cancelled for tomorrow, but all the teachers would be in their offices all day. Comforting a school-full of traumatized children would be hell. She knew Severus would be woken up several times tonight to tend to his Snakes; the chimes in his rooms went off when one of them was crying or distressed.

But for right now, they had each other -- she had the surprising, rewarding, difficult, brilliant man that she loved, and they had a future to discuss.


	23. Miss Mangle's Tale

Chapter 23 – Miss Mangle's Tale

Severus stood quietly beside Shiv in the darkening night. The winds were going chill as December began to creep onwards. Snow blanketed the ground and the stars were crystal clear pinpoints above them. The smell of wood smoke and pine filled his nostrils, with the tang of his metal mask overlaying it. The heavy Death Eater robes were welcome tonight; the cold was biting and even warming charms were not wholly effective against it.

The small cottage in the woods that they had come to destroy sat in a clearing, surrounded by a garden of surpassing loveliness. Severus concentrated on identifying the plants and flowers that grew around his booted feet rather than thinking about the elderly couple that had planted them. The scholar who lived in that house had made the error of coming across a text that Voldemort required. Her published work referencing the text had drawn his attention to her and now Death Eaters had come to claim that which Voldemort desired.

She might not resist. Severus prayed she didn't; if she gave it up easily, Bella wouldn't hurt her, it was part of their orders after all. Her husband, Rodolphus, recently returned to her from Azkaban, also had the power to restrain her when she went blood-crazed, so if the elderly woman didn't resist, she and her husband could live out their lives in peace, unharmed. Severus begged the gods for mercy.

"Good evening, Severus, Shiv." The sweet trilling voice that set his teeth on edge came out of the darkness and Severus turned slowly and bowed to Miss Mangle. Shiv cocked his head and his eyes behind the mask crinkled into a smile.

Tonight she was costumed in a red velvet dress with scarlet ribbons criss-crossing the front of it. She wore a red hooded cloak with white fur trim and red leather boots. Little Red Riding Hood, he thought; how…ironic. Are we supposed to be the wolves, Severus wondered; funny since she is more a predator than any of us.

"Miss Mangle." He was unfailingly polite to her at all times; the last thing he wanted was to offend the creature. Shiv was eyeing her as if she was a sweet he wanted to pop into his mouth, but Severus felt colder when she was near.

"Bella gets to have all the fun." Miss Mangle pouted prettily at Shiv. Shiv glanced hungrily at the cottage. "I am sure that you two would do a much better job of getting that book than Bella."

"The Dark Lord commands and we obey." Severus commented, bringing Shiv's mind back to his job. Miss Mangle obviously was trying to sow dissent amongst them, though why he didn't know. Perhaps like the scorpion in the story, it was simply in her nature.

"You are so obedient Severus." She made it sound like an insult, the way that she swirled the word about in her mouth.

"As you say, Lady." He responded. A scream startled them, drawing their attention back to the cottage; a man's voice agonized and terrified.

"They have decided to resist, how delicious." Miss Mangle leaned forward with an anticipatory air. More screams rent the night, desperate pleas in a feminine voice and the man's anguished sounds.

"Bella won't leave anything for us, Severus, come on let's go play." Shiv was moving forwards, as if he was being drawn by the scent of terror.

"We were ordered to remain on guard, Shiv." Severus reminded him, but it was too late, he was off and running to the cottage. As soon as he was inside, Miss Mangle giggled.

"He is so easy, isn't he Severus? Not like you, you are like iron and he is like clay." She circled him, her boots crunching the snow around him, her cornflower blue eyes watching him.

"Why did you do that? You are supposed to be the Dark Lord's ally." He was impatient with her games.

"I am no one's ally, Severus Snape." She stamped her little foot and tossed her golden ringlets; had there not been the underlying sick and twisted feeling in his gut, it would almost have been amusing. As it was, her fury frightened him. "I am a free being and no one tells me what I can and cannot have." 

"I was merely asking why you created a situation where you will inevitably be chastised. Mr. Fenchurch…" He didn't know why he was having this discussion with her. She was a dark evil, ancient and terrible, but there was something about the little girl she seemed to be that made him wonder about her. If she could appear as anything, why take on the seeming of a child?

"Fenchurch can say whatever he likes, he didn't make me and I will do as I wish." Her venomous tone spoke to the fact that all was not well between the three of them.

"You all did make an arrangement with the Dark Lord." He reminded her, but there was gentleness in his tone and she looked up at him sharply.

"Why do you care? You don't want to play with me, so it shouldn't matter to you what I do." She asked him the question he was asking himself and he had no answers for either of them.

"I don't know." He decided to be honest. "Maybe it's because you look like a little girl, the paternal instinct is roused." He shrugged. "Perhaps it's just curiosity; I have never known anyone like you before." She was watching him closely as he spoke, looking no doubt, for the lie or deception in his words.

"You are always polite and honest with me. Don't you hate me?" Her voice was suddenly confused, the voice of a child in truth.

"No, I don't hate you." The truth of this surprised him. "You scare me sometimes, I don't understand you, but I don't hate you." Miss Mangle slipped a mittened hand into his and stood beside him, leaning her head against his side. It was a pose he could see his future daughters taking. It was innocent and vulnerable and completely out of character for the demon-child he knew that she was. 

"My father hated me and so I killed him, Fenchurch came to me then and promised me things. I wasn't always the creature that I am now. I have forgotten a lot, but I was a person once, a long time ago." Her voice had lost the adult quality that made him shiver in fear. She sounded like the child she seemed. "I had dreams once -- I remember that." She looked out at the snowy landscape, there was a deep sorrow in her eyes, and her face seemed so terribly young and vulnerable. "Fenchurch tries to make us forget, Gideon has forgotten all but her anger and grief, but Fenchurch has never known anything but the hunger; there was nothing for him to forget. He tries to be my father, but he was never any good at it." Her voice had taken on a derisive quality at that last. She looked up at him then and there was something in her eyes, a hunger that had nothing to do with pain and sex. "I wish you had been my father. You would have been good at it." 

His heart twisted in his chest seeing the need in her face. The same need in saw in Draco and Harry, the yearning for family and home, a dream of a place where they were welcome and loved a place where they belonged. And so, for that one moment in time, he allowed her to pretend that she was a human child out in the snow-covered forest with her father. He stood with her, his hand in hers and let a demon dream. 


	24. Curses and Carols

Chapter 24 – Curses and Carols 

They stood by the gravesite, watching as the earth slowly folded itself across the wound where Irma Pince's coffin rested. The earth smoothed itself out at Albus' behest and the snowfall began to erase the marks where the dirt had been churned by magic. Bare black branches scraped the sky, ravens squawked and the crowd of people gathered for the funeral shivered in more than just cold.

The staff and students of Hogwarts listened as Albus recited the ancient words that had sent a thousand years of wizards and witches to their rest.

"Spring turneth to winter turneth to spring again. The earth, which hast born us from darkness, receives us back unto darkness only to raise us once more into the light. Thou art granted thine moments to live and then returneth to thine divine Mother for thy rest. Rejoice, for the peaceful rest granted our sister, but grieve ye as well for she shall not be clad in the same raiment again." 

The words were ancient and comforting, as much by their repetition as in their content. So many funerals, Kathryn thought to herself, standing sadly by the gravesite. Severus stood on one side of her, Minerva stood on the other, and Orion was cradled in her arms fast asleep. She looked between them and felt their support and love as a tangible thing. The brisk Scotswoman and the dour Potions Master were as much her family now as the happy crowd at Lieu D'Asile. 

They trudged away from the gravesite and, one by one, began to walk out of the Hogsmeade Cemetery and back through town to the school. The falling snow and quiet streets only accented the grimness of their march. The Yule decorations hanging from lampposts and decorating the houses and shops they passed seemed strangely out of place.

The Aurors had finally released Irma's body only yesterday, their autopsy showing traces of dark magic. They had cast charms and bindings on her to be sure she would not rise, animated by the evil that had claimed her life. The much-delayed funeral finally closed the door on the life of Irma Pince. Kathryn tried to remember something pleasant about the woman, some moment of kindness to soften her memory of her, but they had known each other too short a time and been too distant in thought and action to have achieved much more than mere politeness.

"When I first came to teach here, Irma was a very different person." Minerva, her voice thickened with sorrow, spoke with her brogue very much in evidence. "She welcomed me here and gave me help with my teaching materials when I needed it." Minerva shook her head sadly. "The change in her was so gradual, I never really noticed it. She drifted away from me and I never saw it."

"We none of us noticed, Minerva. We are all at fault for this." Albus' voice, old, tired, and filled with self-recrimination brought them to a halt as he caught up with them.

"I don't think so, Albus." Severus replied. "We are all responsible for our own souls and the choices we make. None of us pushed her to the Dark."

"None of us held her back either." Minerva retorted with a grimace. They finished the walk in silence and each was so busy examining their own soul that none of them saw the redheaded girl in Ravenclaw uniform walking beside Ron Weasley and whispering to him. 

Allegra sipped her tea with a meditative air as Kathryn bounced Ryan on her knee. The parlor of the cottage was decorated for Yule. The overstuffed couch and wingchairs, the Queen Anne coffee table, the piecrust end tables and the green tartan curtains had come with the house, she knew. But the delicate knick-knacks, the portraits of Allegra's family, the photographs, the lacework doilies, these were all Mrs. Ravagienne's doing. Her taste was understated and homey as befitted the cottage, the boughs of fir and holly that were draped over the arch between the parlor and dining room, the dancing angels on the mantle and the tree decorated and shining in the corner with a Father Christmas circling it in his sledge made it seem as though they had lived here years, rather than less than a month. 

"I always thought that wealth and privilege bought happiness, until my husband was arrested. Then my priorities took a beating." Allegra laughed with a slightly bitter air. "It's amazing how little importance a nice house has when there is no one to share it with you." Kathryn nodded in agreement.

"This cottage is lovely; you have made it such a warm place." She set Ryan down and watched him thrash on the carpeting. He was four months old and not quite crawling yet. He would bounce back and forth on his hands and knees but the opposite limb coordination needed to propel him forward wasn't there yet.

"I've done my best. Without a son to carry the entail, the girls and I are homeless. We always thought we had more time… time to have a son, time to spend together, time for all the things we never had time for." Allegra's face crumpled. Kathryn moved to sit beside her and gathered her up in her arms as she began to cry. "I loved him so much and he did this to us and I should hate him for it. But, Merlin, oh Merlin, I can't, I just can't" Kathryn rocked the other woman gently, soothing her with murmured nonsense words. 

Ryan let out a high-pitched screech, practicing the sounds he could make and expressing his displeasure at being ignored. Allegra picked the baby up and cuddled him, snuffling and yet consoling him as well. Her mothering instincts had been triggered by his cry and the selflessness of her reaction made Kathryn smile. Underneath the pureblooded aristocrat was a good woman; one who would take patience and coaxing to bring out, but one Kathryn realized would be worth the time and effort.

"Don't hate him, Allegra. He loved you and if he chose the wrong path that doesn't mean he loved you less."

"I have been talking to people -- the Aurors and others -- finding out what the Death Eaters did, Kathryn." Allegra looked up at her clear-eyed from over the baby's head. "They killed people, tortured, raped, burned and destroyed. Don't tell me that he 'chose the wrong path.' He was a murdering bastard and he deserved to go to Azkaban." Her tone was low but intense and Kathryn shivered at the hate and fury in the slender dark-haired woman's face. She was reminded that this small woman was related to the Malfoys by the martial gleam in her eyes.

"You're right. He was a murdering bastard and he did deserve to go to Azkaban. But that doesn't change the fact that he loved you. It doesn't change the fact that his last thought was for you and the girls." Allegra looked at her, eyes gone wide and black.

"Our welfare should have occurred to him long before then." Allegra replied and Kathryn merely nodded. After all, what could you say to such a simple truth?

Two hours later she was curled up on the couch in Severus' parlor. Ryan was asleep on a blanket before the fire, tiny hands curled around his stuffed snake, and she was deeply engrossed in the first book she had read for leisure in months.

It was the latest in a series about the fictional Antigone Terrill, Auror Intrepidus. Tony, to her friends, was in yet another perilous situation trapped between a vampire and a cult of dark wizards. The plot was unlikely, the scholarship spotty and the prose far from sterling and closer to purple, but the heroine was always triumphant, good always won out and Tony was never dirty, stinking and filled with nightmares. In fact, Tony never had a hair out of place or was anything more than artfully mussed. Kathryn found the stories both amusing and comforting. They were a guilty pleasure that she had not indulged in for far too long.

She sometimes wished her life was as simple and her difficulties as easily resolved as that of the scarlet haired Antigone. She set the book down and stepped up to the mirror that hung on the wall. She studied the aristocratic nose and plain brown eyes with a feeling of gentle sorrow.

Allegra Ravagienne was a true beauty: perfect heart-shaped face, sparkling ebony eyes and waves of glorious raven's wing hair. Next to her, Kathryn had felt like a drab wren. She was tired at times of being the intelligent, practical one. It would be nice to be the beautiful one.

She felt a stirring of alarm in her mind -- since when had she thought such a thing? She had always known she was no beauty, but it never really mattered before and less so since Severus had loved her and she had seen his eyes soften at the sight of her.

But wouldn't he love her more if she were truly beautiful? No, of course not, her mind rebelled at the thought. He was surrounded by beautiful women and he still loved her. Didn't he? She shivered, suddenly cold, and shook her head to clear it. Where were these doubts coming from that were clouding her mind? 

Ryan squealed as he woke and Kathryn went to him immediately. Her son was awake and needed her. The thought came unbidden: Bellatrix's son, not hers. 

She was frozen by the cold horror of it, the alien thoughts wrapping themselves around her mind, prying at her confidence, trying to break her happiness. She knew what was happening but she didn't understand how they had reached her so deep within the castle.

She held the baby against her, cradling him close to her and she began to sing as she rocked him. The song was ancient, taught to her when she was little and sung time and again throughout her life. It rolled out of her mouth and the darkness lifted from her mind.

She sat on the floor rocking the baby, shaking with reaction and wondering how to keep out creatures whose voices sounded like your own thoughts.


	25. Dragon Rising

Chapter 25 – Dragon Rising

Minuet hated Arithmancy these days. Since Madam Pince's death, Professor Vector had become taciturn, angry and sharp. The classes were easy for Min, her quick mind made light work of the heavy equations. However, her teacher's hostility made what was usually fun for her a terrible burden. 

"Turn to page 135 of your textbook please." Professor Vector rasped out and they all complied. The section was on the Riotous Theory of Conglomerated Nuances and Minuet smiled as she saw it; Professor Leblanc's explanation of it always made her think of Harry. "What is that smirk, Miss Ravagienne?" The sharp voice jerked her back from her moment's reverie and she looked up in startlement.

"I was just reading the text, Professor." She got it out calmly enough but didn't understand the frown on her teacher's face.

"And what was so funny about it?"

"I was just remembering Professor Leblanc's explanation of the theorem, Professor." For some reason, Vector's face darkened at the other teacher's name.

"What did she have to say about it that made you laugh?" The voice was low and dangerous and Minuet didn't understand how she had trod into dangerous territory with so innocuous a comment.

"Well, she invented the theorem while she was trying to figure out dating practices among her fellow students and she said that the theorem described subtleties and nuances because that was what was important between people - the little things." The look of fury that overtook Vector's face as she spoke was followed by a look of pain so intense that Minuet gasped in sympathy. 

"Get out! All of you! Class dismissed!" Vector screamed at them and they ran from the Arithmancy teacher in a panic, desperate to escape. At the door, Minuet turned to look back and saw a sight that burned itself into her mind. Professor Vector collapsed in a pool of black robes, sobbing desperately. 

Minuet marched herself down to the dungeons to check on Draco. She was worried for him as much as she was for Fauna. Fauna was a hollow-eyed shell of her former sweet self, as though the animating force that had driven her had been sucked away. Draco, though, he burned with a fierce guilt and self-hatred that terrified her. She woke every morning expecting that he had slashed his wrists in the night.

She watched him with eagle-eyed sharpness and she had set the Gryffindors on him as well. Harry had explicit orders to guard and watch him and he was taking the task very seriously. Minuet had even gone as far as writing to Lillith to tell her of her concerns. The return letter had been as sensible and affectionate as Minuet had expected of the older girl and a letter for Draco had quickly followed. He had perked up at little since then and Lillith's letters had come more frequently.

He was sitting in front of the Common Room fireplace when she entered and she watched him for a moment before she crossed to one of the windows. Ever since her first day here, the windows had intrigued her. She pressed her nose to the glass and watched the waving tendrils of kelp and seaweed swaying with the movement of the water. The alien world that she glimpsed through those windows calmed and centered her in a strange way and Harry's stories of his encounter with the mer-people had added layers and dimensions to her fascination.

She turned back to Draco and went over to where he was sitting. She dropped her books, flopped onto the couch beside him, and sighed hugely. It was enough. Her display of annoyance drew him from his reverie, from whatever place he was going to in his mind these days, and he frowned at her.

"What's eating you?" His arrogance was comforting to her; a humble Draco just wasn't Draco, as far as she was concerned. 

"Vector blew her top today, went completely mental on us." Minuet replied imitating Helena's cosmopolitan world-weary tones and Draco smirked at the mimicry.

"Did we lose points?" Min shook her head in negation.

"Then I don't care." Draco muttered. Minuet looked at him with concern.

"She was acting really strange. I just don't want to lose another member of the faculty." She remembered Madam Pince's funeral with stark clarity. She was going to too many funerals lately and she didn't like it.

"I heard Hagrid and McGonagall talking in the halls a couple of days ago." Draco ventured, the first unsolicited comment she had heard from him in ages.

"And…?" she prompted.

"They were talking about Pince, about what happened at that faculty meeting." Minuet was riveted now. Uncle Severus had been in such a rage after that meeting and she was dying to know what had happened. "Apparently Pince said some horrible things to Professor Snape and Professor Leblanc. Horrible enough that Hagrid had yelled at her." Minuet's jaw dropped; Hagrid never yelled, not ever. "Hagrid was angry that only Dumbledore, McGonagall and himself had defended them against Pince's accusations, whatever they were."

"But Professor Snape does so much…" She trailed off as she realized what she was about to say.

"They don't know that, though, do they?" Draco reminded her and she thought about the isolation that had surrounded them over the summer. McGonagall's visit and Draco's had been the only ones. Did their Head of House have no other friends?

"No, they don't." Her voice was hardly above a whisper and she felt like crying. 

"He has Professor Leblanc now, Min, so don't fret. He doesn't need anything else." The flat finality in Draco's voice cut her heart.

"I do though." She looked up at him trying to put all her affection, love and trust into her gaze. "I need you." He met her eyes and she saw the wildness, the grief and the rage all there behind the flat gray of his gaze. There was a moment where their wills clashed, where her desire for him to live fought his overwhelming sense of guilt. Then he released his breath in a long drawn out exhalation that seemed to take his rage with it. "You're my friend, Draco, and I need you. I don't have many friends." She added with her eyes burning and her lip trembling. Tears spilled down her cheeks in crystal rivulets and Draco's face softened.

He pulled her into his embrace and hugged her hard enough to bruise before releasing her abruptly.

"Me neither but the ones I do have are pretty good." He surged to his feet and strode from the room with some of his old confidence. Minuet wiped the faked tears from her eyes and smiled. Her father had always said her ability to cry on command was a gift; at least he was right about that. The young Slytherin sauntered off to deal with her other problem child with renewed vigor. Hopefully she wouldn't have to pull the tears again though; it was exhausting and lost potency if over-used. 


	26. Phoenix in Flight

Chapter 26 – Phoenix in Flight

Kathryn rubbed her eyes wearily and stared at the mirror in aggravation. She was scheduled to teach double defense to the seventh year Gryffindors and Slytherins tomorrow bright and early but due to the scheduling inefficiencies of the Order of the Phoenix, she was stuck here monitoring the Watch Mirror all night. 

Somehow, despite Fudge, the system had been installed in the houses of Muggleborn wizards' and witches' families. It had been a long process, requiring subtlety and discretion, something the Order was short on. This meant, of course, that Mundugus Fletcher, Tonks and Moody were not included in the installation, since none of them could be subtle to save their lives.

Kathryn and Severus could not either, since their loyalty was assumed to be with Voldemort, at least by Voldemort and several of the teaching staff. Kathryn pushed her hair out of her face with aggravation; Vector had been at least friendly last year and even at the start of this year. Ever since Pince's outburst though, she had been eyeing the couple with suspicion. The real problem was that Kathryn couldn't ease the Arithmancy Professor's suspicions without endangering Severus and herself; besides, the other woman's suspicions were adding verisimilitude to their deception. It was necessary for the greater good, she reminded herself, but she had never been undercover for so long before. How did Severus do it?

She was missing him. He was off to a Death Eater meeting and she was stuck here for Merlin knows how long, watching a mirror that remained resolutely blank. Which was good, of course; the alternative was terrible, but it was also mind-numbingly dull.

Her mind drifted back to the afternoon. After her last class she had met up with Harry in the Room of Requirement for sword practice. She was never quite sure how he found out about it but Draco had shown up moments later and Harry had just let him in without question.

Kathryn suspected Minuet's Slytherin hand in the proceedings but remained silent. They had taken stances and fenced, Draco watching from the sidelines, following the thrust and parry with eyes half closed. 

The image of the blonde boy, hair glinting silver in the sunlight as he watched them with sleepy gray eyes, his Slytherin uniform perfectly pressed and his tie undone had struck her with an understanding she hadn't had before. His father, once safely ensconced in Azkaban, was roaming loose out there somewhere. His father, who, unlike his mother, would expect greater obedience to Voldemort and for him to take the Dark Mark. Narcissa might shield him if only because he was her possession and she would not share him, but Lucius would have no such thought; he would use his son with the same ruthlessness he showed with everyone and everything else.

She had to keep her mind on Harry though; he was getting better with the sword. She parried his blow and chuckled at his look of frustration. He had yet to get a hit in on her and his adolescent ego was taking a beating. She just had too many years on him, as well as a sword that didn't keep up a running commentary.

Lady Freddy had convinced Backbiter to ease down but the sword still had a lot of personality and the truce Harry had come to with it did not include keeping quiet during practices.

Kathryn whirled and brought her katana down in a slashing cut and felt the blade slide off of the practice gear. Harry looked down at what would have been a fatal disembowelment and groaned.

"Yes, I know I am hopeless, no need to rub it in." Harry muttered to his sword, which was vibrating in a manner strangely reminiscent of laughter.

"You are not hopeless, Harry." Kathryn soothed.

"Actually, you're not half bad, Potter." Draco admitted grudgingly from his sill. He still had that sleepy look but Kathryn could see the glitter of hunger in his eyes. She grinned and walked to the wall. She took down another sword and tossed it at Draco. He caught it wrong handed and with a look of shock.

"Show us how it's done, Mr. Malfoy." She invited with a smile and he returned her a savage grin and went to face Harry on the mats.

Watching the two young men fence was interesting. She had the opportunity to observe them both while they were occupied with each other, and she could evaluate Harry far better against a live opponent than against the simulacra she had used before. She could see the boy's muscles responding to his mind and the slight hesitation brought on by the sword's argument -- she could see where it was happening. The sword wanted the perfect cut, the correct angle, and Harry was content to just keep breathing and fighting as long as possible. It was a matter of degree and training. She would have to increase his practice time.

She watched Draco who was dancing out of Potter's reach, using his superior height to best advantage. He was clearly well trained – not a surprise, he was a Malfoy after all – and he also clearly loved to fence. The fact that he was using a short sword even though his style screamed 'rapier' made his facility with the blade all the more impressive. It occurred to her that she had a teaching assistant ready-made and standing before her, his school robes flapping as he twirled away from Backbiter's lunge.

She brought her mind back to the present, staring at the mirror and swinging her legs under her chair with boredom.

A flicker across the mirror's surface and the flap of black cloaks passing, one black cloak paused to check itself in the mirror and adjust the silver mask it was wearing.

Kathryn grabbed her wand and touched it to the small coin on the desk.

"Alarum." She spoke and the coin heated up. She knew that across England the pockets of several disparate people were warming in response and the address of the Muggle residence was now inscribed on the coins. She mentally thanked Hermione again for the inspiration. She watched with bated breath as the Death Eaters moved through the hall; she caught only glimpses of movement and the faint light of hexes.

A shape rushed past the mirror and Kathryn saw the green light of a killing curse flash by. It was frustrating not being able to either see what was happening or to go to fight. She held herself in her chair by sheer will and saw as another figure appeared in the mirror. The girl, sporting purple hair and a beaky nose, gave her a cheeky wink through the mirror that let Kathryn know Tonks, at least, had arrived.

Hoping that the girl would show some sense and caution was probably futile but Kathryn sent a few prayers anyway, it couldn't hurt. Shadows on the wall and flashes of image in the mirror told her that things were happening there but it wasn't clear enough for her to see any details.

She swore quietly as she watched Tonks fly past the mirror's surface and hit a wall sharply. She would have been dead but one of the Death Eaters became tangled in his robes and ruined another Death Eater's shot at the clumsy Auror. The girl was incredibly lucky. Death Eaters began to disapparate as more Aurors showed up and Kathryn kept her vigil by the mirror.

A few minutes later, Severus, still in the long black robes, kicked open the parlor door and staggered in with the unconscious Tonks in his arms. Kathryn was up in an instant and helping him with the girl.

A few quick diagnostic spells and a counter-curse later, Tonks was looking up at them groggily.

"Did we save them?" She asked weakly.

"Yes, Miss Tonks." Severus answered and then swept Kathryn into a quick embrace before heading out again. His eyes on her face were dull and she shivered in fear as he left.

"Where is he going?" Tonks asked in confusion.

"To take his punishment for saving your life." Kathryn responded with far more gentleness than she was feeling. The sound of the front door closing was very loud in the sudden silence.

"I don't understand." Tonks whispered.

"I know, Tonks." She replied suddenly terribly weary. "Get some sleep. I still have two more hours of vigil to keep."

"Surely they won't do anything more tonight?" Tonks asked as her eyes began to close.

"Do you want to take that chance, Tonks?" Kathryn slumped down in front of the mirror and tried not to think about what Voldemort was doing to her beloved.


	27. The High Price of Intelligence

hapter 27 – The High Price of Intelligence

Severus couldn't remember a time before pain, before the searing agony that coursed through his veins had begun. He only had consciousness of the white-hot pain and the darkness; perhaps there was nothing else. 

He writhed on the stone floor; the cold stone was a soothing contrast to the fires that raged inside his body. Sinuous forms writhed through his blurred vision and he gasped for breath, trying to force oxygen into his lungs despite the stabbing pains this caused. He knew he had to breathe and there was something else he had to do. 

He couldn't remember what it was though. Oh yes -- he had to live to see Kathryn again. He hadn't said good-bye; there was something wrong about that, though he couldn't remember why. He just knew that he had to get back to her.

He twisted around somehow and found himself looking into a pair of cornflower blue eyes. He knew those eyes from somewhere, but he couldn't recall a name. 

"Severus." Yes, that was his name; he recognized that much at least. The voice was young -- a child he thought, but strange somehow. He tried to respond but it came out as a choking sound. "Severus, do you love her?" The question was dangerous but he didn't know why and for some reason he trusted the voice.

"Yes." He croaked out as best he could.

"Then don't be afraid." There was movement and then, finally, a blessed surcease of awareness.

He opened his eyes again and the ceiling of the Hospital Wing greeted his eyes. He blinked slowly, not sure how he had gotten here. He turned his head and there was Kathryn, curled up in a plaid wingchair like a child, fast asleep. Her chocolate colored hair was fanned out around her face, tangled and greasy. Her skin was pale and tear tracks ran down her cheeks. He reached for her, wanting nothing in the world as much as to touch her. He wanted to reassure her, make the sorrow etched into her face go away.

"Kathryn." His whisper was harsh and she jerked awake and was at his side in an instant. Her hands on his face, her eyes searching his,

"Sev?" Her voice wavered and it was rough from crying.

"I hate that nickname." He whispered back to her and she burst into tears, burying her face in his shoulder and sobbing. He fell back asleep wondering why she was so upset, but being too tired to seek the answer.

The voices were coming in and out of his conscious mind like waves lapping at the shore. Albus, Minerva, Poppy and Kathryn: he identified the speakers with a feeling of accomplishment. They came into sharper focus suddenly and he guessed he was awake, despite the lassitude that possessed his limbs.

"We cannot be sure that he will ever fully recover." Albus was saying. "So many hours under Cruciatus might have broken his mind."

"No, he was lucid when he woke." Kathryn's voice was sure, but there was pain in it and exhaustion so deep it made him hurt inside.

"He has suffered that curse more than any other recorded person; if anyone can resist it, Severus can." Minerva's voice was brisk and he felt pleased that she was defending him.

"Minerva, there is no immunity to be built up against it, it's not the flu." Poppy scoffed and Severus was annoyed by her comment; did she think he was some weakling?

"He knew me, he spoke to me, and his mind is still all there." Kathryn insisted. Good woman -- smart, lovely; yes, he could depend on her to defend him, and it was nice.

"As far as I can determine he suffered Cruciatus for more than eight hours. The Longbottoms went mad after only six." Poppy replied. "I just want you to be prepared, that's all."

"Even if his mind is well, his body may very well suffer after-affects for some time." Albus added, sounding far older and frailer than Severus had ever heard him.

"Do you mind, I am trying to sleep?" Severus finally interjected, as the voices were starting to give him a headache.

"Severus!" Poppy's face appeared in his line of vision and he found his lips twisting into a small smile.

"Were you expecting someone else?" He retorted, feeling far too weak to bandy words with her.

Kathryn took his hand and smiled at him, her eyes full of a quiet joy. Minerva and Albus drifted into view, Minerva's face triumphant and Albus just looking relieved.

"How are you feeling?" Poppy was back to her usual fluttery efficiency, checking him and re-checking him, muttering as she waved her wand over him.

"Awful, but nowhere near as badly as I did before." He retained vague recollections of the torture he had undergone and was grateful not to remember more.

"You are in far better shape than you have any right to be." Poppy began to smile as she worked over him and her shoulders relaxed as tension began to drain from her body. Albus seemed to gain some strength as she spoke, straightening and allowing his face to relax into a small smile. 

He allowed himself to drift on the tide of their voices, relaxing and dozing as they cared for him. Soon the voices had faded and he opened his eyes to see Kathryn seated beside his bed again.

"You need rest." He admonished her. Her eyes looked bruised and her face was painfully drawn.

"I will rest soon, love. I just want to sit here a while more." Her voice was shaky and he reached for her hand. Her fingers were cold and he clutched them tightly.

"All I could think was that I had to get back to you." He recalled the cold stone floor and the moments of quiet desperation, but they seemed distant right now.

"You scared me, Severus." She released the words almost as though it pained her to say them. He searched her face and wondered at her tone. "I thought I had lost you and I hadn't even had a chance to say good-bye." Tears began to tumble down her cheeks and she buried her head in her free arm. He clung hard to the other hand.

"Payback for last May." He joked and she looked up at him in shock. He smirked at her and she laughed at him through her tears.

"I love you so much, you horrible man." She was laughing and crying at the same time and he fell asleep again to the sound of her voice.


	28. Yawning Abyss

Chapter 28 – Yawning Abyss

Minuet sat on the couch, curled up beside Draco. The Room of Requirement was full tonight as the members of Dumbledore's Army gathered to talk. A sitting room with couches, chairs and writing desks was the configuration it had taken tonight. The DA members were draped about the room in casual poses but with serious eyes.

Minuet was still horribly shaken by Uncle Severus' near death. In her mind he had become invincible, invulnerable and immortal; to have that shaken was to feel as though there was no certainty anywhere in the world. Harry caught her eye and she relaxed. There was one certainty: she loved Harry Potter. 

Draco was sitting with an arm about Helena and another around Min; the two younger girls were snuggled against him seeking comfort. The whole of Slytherin was shaken by Professor Snape's prolonged absence. Two weeks in the Hospital Wing was longer away from his House than he had ever been before and they missed him bitterly. Without Snape Watch in the mornings to tell them which way the wind was blowing they had lost more House Points than usual. With Dumbledore teaching Potions (though he was a really good teacher), the Gryffindors were arrogant and smirking. Without the sure knowledge that sniffling in the night would bring him to your room immediately, willing to listen to your fears and childhood traumas, they were, quite simply, lost.

They all had realized that they had taken him for granted and their guilt had taken the form of letters, candy and flowers that filled the Hospital with conflicting floral scents. Those favored few who were allowed to visit came back grave and silent and fear spread amongst the Snakes. Harry's voice interrupted her musing.

"So with what happened to Madam Pince in mind, I have been thinking about ways to boost our morale and Hermione has come up with some projects for us." Draco rolled his eyes at Min, but Min just grinned back. She knew that Draco secretly liked the Gryffindor girl.

"Oh great, Bossy Boots is going to give us projects." Draco grimaced and Hermione frowned but she took him no more seriously than Minuet did and Hannah Abbot even grinned at him with affection. His reputation as an arrogant jerk had taken such a severe beating in the last year that it was doubtful whether any of them could muster up any real dislike of him now. Except, of course, for Ron Weasley. Now there was a boy who never released a grudge.

"Watch your mouth, Malfoy." Ron snarled and Hermione sighed, while everyone else braced for the coming war.

"You got a problem, Weasel?" Draco fired back. Harry intervened before either combatant could get started again.

"Enough!" Harry made a chopping motion with his hand. "We have too much to worry about without fighting amongst ourselves." He included Draco in his glance, but Ron turned red in shame.

"You make it sound like he is one of us, that all of them are." Ron's glare and gesture encompassed all the Snakes: Crabbe, Goyle, Helena, Minuet and Draco. "How do we know they aren't spies sent by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?" Ron asked, while eyeing the Slytherins.

"Because I asked Dumbledore before I invited them in and he agreed that they were trustworthy." This was the first time Minuet had heard anything about this and she looked at Harry in some shock. Ron was also looking a little hammered by the information and was staring at Harry in disbelief.

"Couldn't you figure out that bit on your own, Potter?" Draco's voice was disdainful, but there was a mix of emotions under his words. Anger and hurt at being doubted as well as gratification that Dumbledore trusted him.

"After what happened with Sirius, I check some of my instincts with Dumbledore first, just to make sure." Minuet was now feeling sorrow and rage at Voldemort. Harry had so many insecurities already, the last thing he needed was to spend all his remaining energy wondering if his thoughts were his own or Voldemort's.

"So you're not an idiot after all, Potter." Draco's words were harsh, but his tone was even and he nodded at Harry acknowledging the other boy's point. Harry merely shrugged, whether at the acknowledgement or at the subtler acceptance in Draco's words, it was hard to be sure. For a Gryffindor, Harry was capable of grasping nuances with Slytherin-like ability.

"So I was hoping we could start a buddy system." Hermione cut through the emotional undertones with her no-nonsense practicality. "We don't go anywhere without at least one member of the DA with us. We pick another DA member who we report dreams, thoughts, any insecurities or fears we might be feeling to. Anyone see anything dodgy in one of the others and we sit them down and talk to them about it. No one gets left alone, no one gets ignored." Hermione's voice was strong and clear and Minuet found herself smiling at the older girl.

"That's brilliant!" Minuet heard herself say and was instantly embarrassed, though Hermione beamed at her. Draco elbowed her sharply.

"Don't encourage her." He mumbled, but everyone caught it and most chuckled. Ron glowered at the blonde Snake, but Hermione just rolled her eyes.

"That's the point, Draco, to encourage each other. How many people paid attention to Madam Pince?" The room fell silent under her sharp-eyed gaze. "I am as guilty as anyone; I spend more time in the Library than anywhere else." There was rumbling laughter at that. "But that's why it needs to be all of us. When I get sucked into a book, I loose track of everything."

"You're right. My Great Aunt says that the details are more important than anything else when you are fighting the Dark." Susan Bones piped up from her seat next to Terry Boot, who was nodding at her words.

"Riotous Theory of Conglomerated Nuances." Minuet blurted out and Hermione nodded vigorously.

"Exactly! The only way to fight the voices is to talk about them, to drag them out into the light. They live by secrecy and shame, they hide in shadows; force them into the open and they fade."

"Like the Boggart." Neville Longbottom commented. Ginny was sitting on the floor in front of him, her head back, resting on his knees and she smiled up at him. Minuet noticed that Neville had filled out a lot in the last year or so. His body had lost the pudgy round quality and there was strength in his frame and in his face. Ginny, her hair in multiple braids twisted on top of her head, her freckled face lovely in the firelight was looking up at him with pride and affection.

"Exactly like the Boggart." Hermione agreed, so excited by their understanding that she was bouncing. "I am terrified of failing the NEWTS." She admitted and the general laughter that answered her made her grin.

"Even if you didn't study from this day forth Granger, you would ace the tests." Draco's offhand comment made Hermione flush with pleasure.

"I see what you mean, though." Luna was gazing dreamily at the fire. "Fear is countered with laughter. Not the kind that makes fun of you, but the kind that is gentle and compassionate. The kind that reminds us we are all afraid and that really there isn't anything to be afraid of, we're just all very silly." Minuet joined the others in drop-jawed silence as they absorbed Luna's words.

"Now we know how she made Ravenclaw." Draco murmured to Minuet and Min nodded back to him, suddenly feeling far more hopeful than she had since her father died.


	29. A Wish For Christmas

Chapter 29 – A Wish for Christmas

Kathryn sat in the chair and watched his sleeping face. Relaxed, without his trademark frown, he was downright attractive. Nose aside, his face had character and a sort of granite strength to it that swept aside the normal rules of beauty. The nose added a touch of arrogance that she found rather charming; it was a sign of his character that he hadn't used magic to rid himself of it.

She had spent the last two weeks divided between classes and here and she had learnt his face while sleeping to the point that she could sketch him from memory if she chose. Ryan lay curled up in her lap; he fretted if he didn't spend at least a little time each day with his father and it seemed to do Severus a great deal of good as well to see the tiny face smiling up at him. At five months, Orion was a wriggling ball of energy and was deeply enamored of his own voice.

Kathryn sat playing peek-a-boo with him most of the time, which he never seemed to tire of. She set him down on the floor and watched him wriggle on the soft blanket. He raised his head, the mop of black curls and the pale gray eyes turned towards her and he reached for the ring of softly glowing balls that Filius had charmed for him. Pulling them into his mouth, he gummed them happily; they were sweet tasting and warm and he was very fond of them.

She turned her attention back to Severus, knowing that when Ryan wanted her attention he was quite capable of vocalizing his requirement. She smiled softly at the thought and heard an answering squeal from the floor.

Severus woke at the sound and met her eyes with that warmth which never failed to thrill her. 

"Did you get any sleep?" He asked her, his voice rusty from disuse but still capable of sounding authoritative.

"Yes, Professor, I was good." Kathryn replied in mock submission. He chuckled.

"Good, I would hate to have to give you detention." Kathryn felt a tingle of wicked delight at the thought of detention with her lover.

"On second thought, I have been bad, very bad indeed." She admitted with a broad grin. He laughed then, a full happy sound that dissolved into a wracking cough. In an agony of guilt, Kathryn fetched him water and, propping him up, helped him hold it in his shaking hands. "Oh love, I am sorry." She kissed his hair as he finished drinking and set the glass aside.

"Don't be." He cut her off with a harsh gesture. "A little laughter won't kill me." She trailed kisses down his face and captured his lips with tender affection. He kissed her back and something that she had feared she had lost forever was suddenly so sweet it brought tears to her eyes.

"Don't ever scare me like that again." She whispered against his temple, her hand stroking his cheek.

"You know that there are no guarantees, Kathryn." He countered. She buried her face in his shoulder and breathed deeply of his scent, calming herself.

"I'm sorry, I know better than that." She acknowledged with a soft exhalation.

"Stop apologizing, woman. I felt exactly the same when you were in my position; it doesn't matter how smart we are or how well trained. When it is personal, all the training in the world is useless." His hands clutched the front of her robes and drew her back into a kiss. His hands trembled and he was weak but the power of his mind was not in the least bit diminished.

"I felt so helpless, watching you twitch and burn like that." She confessed and crawled onto the bed to curl against him. A quick glance at Ryan showed that he had dropped off to sleep on the blanket and she snuggled against Severus still needing the reassurance of his continued breathing to make her feel at ease.

"Kathryn, how did I get back to Hogwarts?" The question caught her by surprise. 

"I don't know, Severus. Hagrid found you by your usual apparation spot; we figured you must have gained enough consciousness to get there at least." His eyes were full of puzzlement and he shook his head slightly as though he were trying to shake his thoughts back into order.

"I don't remember." His soft sigh and the way he tightened his arms around her let Kathryn know he was disturbed by something. But he said no more, simply holding her and staring out at the privacy curtains with a distracted air.

Kathryn sat in her office, sipping a cup of hot tea and thinking over the events of the last year. Christmas vacation started tomorrow and all Kathryn wanted for the holiday was her beloved to be well and whole. 

She had always felt happiest when surrounded by books. The circular tower room with its interior surface coved in bookcases enclosed her in an informational womb. The warm fireplace and the tea relaxed her and the weeks of little sleep and lots of worry finally caught up with her.

She was on a filthy street, thatched roof huts tilted precariously all along what was really just a muddy path. Dirty ragged children ran past her to play in the dirt and muck. Smoke rose from holes cut in the thatch and scrawny dogs roamed the street. A ragged man in tunic and breeches waded through the refuse and walked right through Kathryn. She realized that she had no form here; she was a ghost and this must be a dream or vision of some sort.

A small girl, perhaps four or five, scurried from the nearest hut and slipped in the filth, falling to her knees, sobbing. Kathryn reached for the child but her hands passed through her like smoke. The girl looked up and Kathryn looked into tear-filled eyes of blue. The child's hair might have been blonde had it been clean and she had a lovely face hidden beneath the dirt and blood.

"Brinna! Ya slattern! Come 'ere!" A huge man, stocky and built like a wall emerged from the hut and grabbed the child by a handful of hair. The villagers and other children ignored the pitiful state of the girl and continued on their ways without a backward glance.

"No, Da, no, please!" She child sobbed as she was dragged into the hut. Kathryn dove after them, trying futilely to grab the little girl. She reached for her wand to hex the man but it was absent from her sleeve and she cursed inwardly at her helplessness.

The interior of the hut was as filthy as the street outside and the detail of the place made Kathryn realize that whatever was happening here had happened hundreds of years ago. The iron hook from which a pot hung over a dung fire, the straw-stuffed mattresses and rough woven blankets, they all told of a far distant past.

The child continued her litany of begging and weeping as the man tossed her on the rough blanket and pushed up her skirts. Kathryn turned away, unable to watch as the man brutalized the girl. The sounds alone filled her with anguish and horror. She wept for the little girl and only could turn back after the man had pulled up his breeches and stormed out of the hut.

Kathryn went to the bed and knelt by the little girl; she wanted to hold her and soothe her, she wanted to help her clean up and heal the bruises and cuts. The child's sobs were heart-breaking and she wept with her.

"It doesn't matter, you know. It was a long time ago." Kathryn looked up from the pallet and there was the girl, standing there, looking down at her younger self. She was clean now, dressed in blue robes the same color as her eyes. She was older, perhaps twelve, and her eyes were blank and hard. "She probably deserved it."

"It does matter!" Kathryn cried out and the girl looked at her in surprise. "It matters and no one deserves this! She's just a child! Children should be protected, loved, cared for, not have this…this horror heaped on them." The older version was looking at her with a puzzled expression, a look of confusion as though she couldn't quite understand.

"I killed him." She told Kathryn, gesturing after the absent man with a casual air. 

"Good." Kathryn nodded to her. "He needed to be stopped." The girl on the bed had sobbed herself to sleep.

"She's weak." Spat the older one with a look of contempt.

"She's a child, he's an adult. She couldn't have defended herself from him. She's not weak; she's strong to have survived him." Kathryn insisted. She didn't know why this conversation was important, but she knew that it was.

"Strong?" The girl looked at Kathryn with surprise; something was stirring in her eyes. "She was strong?" Blonde ringlets glowed in the light from the dung fire, blue eyes went from flat to fathomless and Kathryn felt as though there was some moment of significance in all of this.

"Yes, she was strong. She said no, she fought him, and she did more than many children would have. She is not to blame for this, she is innocent." Kathryn insisted, reaching a ghostly hand to stroke the child's sleeping face. She wanted nothing more than to wrap the little girl up in her arms and carry her away from this.

"You love him don't you?" The voice was ageless, yet somehow young and vulnerable.

"More than anything." Kathryn didn't know how she knew that the girl was speaking of Severus, she just did.

"Then don't be afraid." The girl's eyes glowed with blue fire, Kathryn was swept away from the scene, and she woke with a start on the couch in her tower.

"Brinna." She whispered to herself. She had a name, the true name of a demon.


	30. Christmas Gifts

Chapter 30 – Christmas Gifts

Severus woke to sunlight streaming through the windows and speckling his bedding with geometric patterns of light. The air was cool but not cold and he turned his head to where Kathryn could usually be found. His eyes widened as he took in the person who sat there.

A tiny woman with honey-gold hair, bright blue eyes and a perfect heart-shaped face sat in her purple robes with her feet tucked beneath her. She was reading a book, delicate silver spectacles perched on her nose. Her slender fingers turned a page and he smiled.

"Lady Freddy." He breathed out and she looked up at him with those ancient eyes. Laughter sparkled in them and he couldn't help smiling at her.

"Professor Snape." She returned with a twitch of her lips.

"When did you arrive? I am sorry to have been so poor a host." He scooted his still shaky body up higher in the bed and straightened his pajamas. She chuckled as he brushed his fingers through his hair trying to comb it into place. He didn't know why but he always felt as though he should be on his best behavior with Lady Freddy and not just because she could flame him to a crisp, either.

"Not in the slightest. That nice young Headmaster has been very hospitable." It took a moment to realize that she meant Albus and he nodded. "I tried to send you your tea for Christmas and found out you were ill." She explained her presence with a somewhat severe tone. "Why are you here, dear?"

"Eight hours of Cruciatus, apparently." He answered with a shrug, not quite sure what she was asking.

"Yes, so I heard." Lady Freddy stood up from the chair, so graceful and light that she seemed to float and fetched a teapot from the cupboard where Poppy kept it. She held it in her hands and her eyes seemed to glow a moment. She poured tea leaves and water into it and breathed lightly on the pot; steam rose from the spout as it came to a boil and Severus watched in fascination.

"Handy, that." He commented with a raised eyebrow.

"You are the spitting image of your great-grandfather you know, especially when you do that thing with the eyebrow." Severus looked at her in surprise.

"You knew Great-Grandfather?" He should have guessed of course; she was old enough to have known Plato, and Grandmother Agatha had told him stories about his Great-Grandparents. 

"Rather well. I married him, dear." Lady Freddy winked at him and he nodded as the bits fell into place. 

"I still have the cottage on the Downs, you know." He told her with a gentle smile. She returned it and poured him a cup of tea.

"How does it work? Is it like the Elves?" He asked, wondering.

"Not quite, dear. It's a recessive gene and it doesn't always take. There is little likelihood of you or any of your offspring growing wings or breathing fire." She chuckled at his crestfallen expression. He shrugged; he had always gotten along fine before and this knowledge changed nothing for him.

"It does explain Father's temper, though." He muttered and Lady Freddy glowered into her teacup.

"He is a disgrace to the Snape name." She retorted and he sipped at the tea. Strength poured into his limbs, the trembling eased and he felt better than he had in ages.

"What precisely is in this tea?" He asked with wide eyes and a slight squeak in his voice. Lady Freddy threw back her head and laughed; a joyful tone that drew a broad smile from him.

"A little tea and a little magic." She winked at him and they turned to talk of people long dead and futures yet to come. 

Severus escorted Lady Freddy to the Christmas Eve dinner and pulled out her chair for her. She settled into it with a smile at Harry, Albus, the other teachers and the few students who remained over the Christmas holidays. 

The single round table sat in the middle of a fairy bower dusted with ice. Pale silver willows grew everywhere, their whitened branches interwoven to form a canopy over the table. White rabbits darted through the dense underbrush that grew in a circle around the clearing. White birds winged across the sky and snow fell, only to vanish moments before it touched anything. Icicles hung from branches and tinkled against each other in a magical breeze. Tiny pale white fairies darted about casting a ghostly light as they passed. It was quite lovely, Severus thought; probably Minerva's doing rather than Albus and Filius' work.

Kathryn came in with Ryan and lit up when she saw Severus down to dinner but the game face was carefully replaced an instant later, the presence of the students causing her to close those windows to her soul. Lady Freddy reached for the baby with a smile and Kathryn dutifully passed him over. Ryan giggled and screeched at his Great-Great Grandmother and she smiled at him indulgently. 

Kathryn settled into the chair beside Severus, her robes of scarlet with white fur trim standing out starkly against the monochrome background, like blood on snow. He brushed her knee with his fingertips and she gripped his hand beneath the table. 

Across from them, Fauna Broomworthy sat statue-still next to Harry who kept trying to engage her in conversation, receiving only tight-lipped silence in response. Minuet had gone to Hogsmeade for Christmas with her mother and sister and her absence had removed all the remaining animation from Fauna's face.

From the corner of his eyes, he watched Lady Freddy pass a cup of tea to Miss Broomworthy and give Harry a sharp look. Harry nodded back to the Dragon and coaxed Fauna to drink the steaming beverage. Warmth flooded Fauna's features as she drank and she shook herself as though she were just waking up from a heavy sleep. She thanked Harry with some of her usual warmth and Harry shot an adoring look at Lady Freddy who chuckled.

"What is in that tea?" Severus asked her under his breath, he was rewarded with her sparkling laughter and a gaze filled with merriment.

"The tea is just tea, but the fact that an angel grows the camellia bushes, harvests and dries the leaves does seem to have a certain affect." Severus had to clamp his jaw shut to keep it from dropping open as he absorbed her words.

"An angel?" There was shock and wonderment in his voice, but he kept it very low.

"Yes, and such a darling boy, too." She nodded. "Professor Sprout, I could not help noticing your greenhouses, so very well tended; could I trouble you for a tour later?" The bright blue eyes had zeroed in on Sprout with the target-seeking abilities of a bludger and with much the same effect. Sprout gave Lady Freddy a wide-eyed gaze and nodded.

"Certainly, your Grace."

"Exactly what are you the duchess of?" Draco asked with a respectful air that covered the impertinence of his question.

"Her Grace, Lady Frieda Fredericka Harris, Duchess of Camelot, Baroness of Tintagel, Lady of the Far Isle and Lady Protector of All England, are the important titles, but I find it all rather tedious, don't you?" Silence fell over the table as she plopped her head on her fist and gave Draco a toothy grin. He shivered in response and gave her a rather doubtful smile in return.

"That's rather impressive." Harry croaked.

"A little better than being called 'the-boy-who-lived', but it carries the same baggage, dear." She shrugged at him with an expression of compassionate understanding.

"If you are protector of All England, why haven't you stopped You-Know-Who?" Asked a rather forward young first-year Gryffindor with the unlikely name of Yuriko Dumpling. She had jet-black pigtails and an English complexion, her big green eyes had an oriental cast, and her attention was fixed on Lady Freddy.

"Miss Dumpling, wasn't it?" Yuriko nodded. "That is an excellent question." She settled back in her chair with a pleased expression and toyed with her Christmas lamb. "Creatures like that Riddle boy are not the sort of thing I was set to guard against." The table sat spellbound listening to the warm thrum of her voice.

"You see, long ago there were terrible wars between my kind and the Dark creatures. Our allies were those flighty Elves, some of the more energetic angels, some of the gods, and all the other creatures of the Light -- except for the Golgothans, who try to stay out of all that." She spoke as though everyone understood what she was talking about and they all nodded dumbly.

"When the wars were over, we had remade the planet with our cataclysmic battles and we all withdrew to lick our wounds." Her eyes glowed sapphire as she looked back into a past none of them could comprehend. "Well, as we were picking up the bits we looked around and found these little bipeds; curious creatures who seemed to be neither of the Light nor of the Dark. Some wanted to destroy them, some wanted to recruit them, but in the end it was decided to leave them be." She grew quiet, lost in thought, and then came back suddenly.

"The problem was that the Dark was not willing to leave them be. They began trying to draw this new race into the war and while some resisted there were some who were drawn to the Dark and the war started anew. Now, some time has passed since then and there is a sort of balance." She paused and looked at Fauna with a thoughtful air. "The creatures that I am bound to fight are not men, bent on mad courses, but the Dark creatures that stand behind them, whispering in the night." She then looked down at the sleeping baby in her lap. "All those born of my line are set that task." She added with a sidelong glance at Severus.

He felt his bowels go icy as he grasped her meaning. Potter may have to destroy Voldemort, but he was the one who would have to take down the Dark Ones. Her comforting smile failed to comfort and Albus' expression of dismay and shock only made him feel worse. 


	31. Christmas in Hogsmeade

Chapter 31 – Christmas in Hogsmeade

Minuet hugged her mother and let herself be led into the cottage. Tina flung herself at her big sister the instant she entered the room and Minuet hugged her hard in return.

"Oh baby, you must be freezing." Her mother fussed over her and she smiled, feeling as though she were a young child again, but in the best way. There was warmth and comfort in her mother's care, especially when so many bad things were happening.

"It was cold out, but Professor Dumbledore sent me in one of the Hogwarts carriages." Minuet confessed. Professor Dumbledore certainly knew about Harry and herself, though she wasn't sure how he found out; but he had suddenly become very careful of her. She wasn't sure if it was because she was Harry's girlfriend or Snape's ward that he had become quite so solicitous of her safety. It could be either, she admitted, as her mother burbled about the Headmaster's kindness. 

She caught sight of Fortina, sitting on the carpet before the fire, playing with her dolls. It could also be because her father had been a Death Eater. She looked at the little girl and prayed that she would find someone as wonderful as Minuet had to love someday. That she could marry someone even half as good, kind, brave, smart and funny as Harry Potter.

She smiled at her mother as she set the table. She had known for the last month that she was going to marry Harry. She had thought that she would have to bend all her Slytherin cunning to it, but he rarely seemed to think past defeating Voldemort. She shivered at that thought; she was scared for him -- terrified in fact -- but she recalled Professor Leblanc's words to her at her last lesson.

"Harry has more than just a duty and a responsibility; he has a destiny and that is the worst possible burden, especially for someone so young. You can't get between him and this burden or we all may die. You can't shoulder it yourself, the best you can do is love him, support him and kick his ass when he gets morose." They had dissolved into laughter at the last bit and Minuet had hugged her Defense teacher and thanked her for the excellent advice.

It occurred to Min that the advice came from hard experience. Uncle Severus had still looked weak and pale when she had visited him earlier today. Professor Leblanc had been sad and distracted outside of class and intensely focused in it. The students thought it was because of what had happened to Madame Pince, which reminded her of another piece of school gossip.

"We still don't have a librarian. The House Elves are running the Library right now. Professor Dumbledore can't find anyone who is willing to take the job, so we might end up with a Ministry appointee." Minuet commented as her mother set the goose on the table.

"Is he taking applications?" It was the off-hand nature of the comment that caught her attention. The casual way her mother asked -- as though it was of absolutely no importance. 

"I believe so." Minuet looked at her mother speculatively; she was still young by wizarding standards, only forty. She was beautiful, smart, full of fire and intelligence; she had been a Ravenclaw when she was at Hogwarts, much as Minuet suspected Tina would be. Minuet took after her father: stubborn, willful, a little manipulative; though Min only manipulated for a good cause. 

Her mother, she suddenly realized, had at the least another hundred years of life ahead of her. She wasn't just Min and Tina's mother; she was a person with a life and dreams outside all that. She looked at the woman who had always been there for her with the eyes of an adult and saw a person who needed a life outside this cottage.

"Would you like me to take yours to the Headmaster?" She asked her mother, keeping the same off-hand tone as her mother had used.

"Sure, why not? It can't hurt." Her mother shrugged, as though nothing momentous had occurred and Minuet nodded and pretended that she didn't see the little flush of excitement on her face.

Several hours later, Minuet was pressed against a wall in an unused classroom -- not the most romantic of settings, but it was far away from the usual haunts of snogging students. Minuet was oblivious to her surroundings though; she was happy to be anywhere with Harry.

Harry's mouth had the most amazing taste to it; it was like something between chocolate and apples, but warm and velvety. His hands in her hair and the way he held her against him made her bones melt into a puddle. The kiss was not as satisfying as usual -- she was finding that she wanted more, but Harry resolutely stopped them at a certain point and wouldn't go past it. His repeated mentions of Uncle Severus gave her the impression that he was terrified of having his balls hexed off by her guardian. She conceded the concern as being valid; Uncle Severus was, after all, a Slytherin. 

"You know, you really are the most amazing girl, Min." He had pulled back just enough to look into her eyes with an expression that made her feel both shivery cold and deliciously warm at the same time, a neat trick that.

"What the…?" Harry and Minuet jumped away from each other and whirled to see Ron standing in the doorway. His red hair accentuated the sudden paleness of his face as he took in just who Harry had been cuddled up to. 

"Uh, hi, Ron." Harry winced at the look of outrage on the other boy's face.

"Whadda ya mean, 'Hi Ron'?" His best friend retorted and stepped into the room, swiftly shutting the door closed behind him. "What are you doing?"

"Kissing my girlfriend." He replied and Minuet looked up at him with pride and adoration shining in her eyes. Ron looked back and forth between the two of them and sighed.

"Snape's going to kill you, mate." Ron pointed out the obvious with unerring accuracy.

"You don't mind?" Minuet asked timidly. She knew how close the two boys were and she didn't want a breach between them.

"Are you a Death Eater?" He asked her suddenly. She made a face and shook her head. "Then I don't mind. I think it would have been way better if Harry was dating a Gryffindor girl, but you're okay…for a Slytherin." Minuet smiled at him and Harry gripped his hand with a grin.

"Thanks, Ron." Harry's voice was rough with emotion; he had been really afraid of losing Ron's friendship, Minuet deduced. The fact that he had been willing to fight his best friend over her made her feel wonderful, but she was so glad he hadn't had to choose. "You know that you can't tell anyone, right?" Harry sighed as he ran a hand through his hair.

Ron got a strange look then, as if he was listening to an inner voice and then nodded.

"It would be way too dangerous to let anyone know." Ron affirmed. "Merlin, her own House would lynch her, not to mention what our House would do." They all agreed to keep it secret and they sat in the dusty classroom talking for some time with a happy camaraderie that warmed Minuet's heart. However, that one moment of strangeness in Ron Weasley's face haunted her and she didn't know why.


	32. Christmas Morning

Chapter 32 – Christmas Morning

Kathryn woke to the soft sound of Severus' breathing. She had grown sensitive to its nuances while he had been in the hospital wing. Any faltering or laboring and she had come instantly awake, ready to scream for Poppy if necessary. She turned her head to see his haggard face on the pillow beside her and felt the strange gratitude well up in her again. Whatever power or divinity had saved him she thanked with all her heart.

Rolling onto her elbow, she dropped a kiss onto his brow and whispered into his ear.

"Last one to their presents gets hexed." His eyes flew open and they both leapt from the bed racing for the front room. She beat him despite the fact he tossed obstacles into her path in an attempt to slow her down. His Slytherin competitiveness wouldn't allow him to do anything but fight her with every ounce of his cunning, but her reflexes and training were just a hair superior and he groaned as the hex hit him.

She changed the bright green hair as soon as she could stop laughing enough to speak the counter-spell. He glared at her the entire time, looking decidedly un-amused as she sat on the floor howling with laughter. In his black nightshirt with his bare legs and dark eyes, the neon green hair had just been a bit too much for her to keep her composure.

"You are precisely how old?" He snapped, but his eyes were warm so she knew she hadn't pushed him too far, as of yet.

"Thirty-seven this year." She replied as she wiped the tears of laughter from her eyes.

"Hmm." He snorted and headed towards the small tree he had allowed to be placed on a side table. Beneath its branches were the presents that Pére Noël had brought them. "Father Christmas has been generous this year." Severus raised an eyebrow at her and she grinned in response. 

Winky came bouncing in with Ryan in tow; he was dressed in a green and red Christmas romper and set up a happy squealing at the sight of his parents. Kathryn opened her arms to him and he flung himself the short distance between Winky and Kathryn with gleeful abandon. She caught him dexterously and sighed at his fearlessness. He was a Black through and through and her only prayer was that he wouldn't end up in Gryffindor. While she had no prejudices about it, she could not say the same for Severus and it would be a bone of contention between father and son.

Kathryn accepted her gifts with a small gracious nod that made Severus' lips twitch in appreciation and settled herself and Ryan primly onto the couch to open them, paying him back for the crack about her maturity. 

Severus separated their presents from Ryan's and settled down to tear open his first gift, while Winky helped Ryan with his and Kathryn opened hers.

From her mother she had received a book entitled "Attractiveness Charms and How to Use Them"; she tossed it onto the coffee table and watched as Severus rolled his eyes in disgust. From her father there was a book of Musashi's haiku, which she set aside for later reading. From Grand-mére there was some racy lingerie that made her blush and Severus laugh. Gabriel had sent her a book of rare curses and counter-curses and Raphael had sent her a family photo of himself with his wife and Lisle waving happily from the porch of Lieu D'Asile; his wife was pregnant and her ungainly figure sent a pang of envy through Kathryn that caught her off-guard. She set the photo aside and reached for the next present.

Severus, she noticed, had received a gift from Grand-mére as well; it was a silver pocket watch -- dwarven-crafted, from the Appalachian Colony she guessed, based on the delicate inlay work that edged the watch case in copper Celtic knotwork as fine as a baby's hair. When he flipped it open, it revealed an enamel portrait on the inside lid. Kathryn gasped in recognition at the too tall curvy eighteen-year-old with her hair in an elaborate chignon and a pale apricot ball gown clinging to the body she had yet to become comfortable with. The girl she had been blinked up at Severus and smiled shyly at him.

"Is this what I think it is, Kathryn?" Severus asked her as he clutched the watch, his knuckles whitened. 

"Yes." She answered with a trembling voice. It was tradition in the old families to send a portrait of the debutantes to all those who were being invited to bid on them. If a suitor were particularly favored he would be sent a gift along with the portrait. It was obviously Grand-mére's way of conveying her approval of a match in a manner that every pureblooded family in the magical world could understand. Severus stared at the unexpected gift with tears welling in his eyes and then tucked it into his pocket and stalked out. Kathryn smiled and kissed Ryan on his forehead, feeling rather misty-eyed herself. 

She turned back to her gifts, saving Severus' for last, and contemplated her bounty. There were packages from Minerva, Hagrid, Poppy, Harry, Minuet, Hermione, Draco, and Albus. She picked up the one from Albus first with a smile on her face.

She had conspired with Harry this year and everyone had sent Dumbledore socks for Christmas; she had found some in New Orleans with golden fleur-de-lis on them and she knew Harry had sent red and gold stripped ones. Severus had sent him a pair with snakes, of course. She was curious what Albus had sent her, as last year's gift of a fuzzy pink muffler was so very ... whimsical.

She opened the box and pulled out a small locket, silver and heart-shaped. The suspicion of a conspiracy rose in her mind as she opened it. Inside was a picture of a gawky youth, around eighteen years of age. He had a sullen, world-weary expression on his face. A face dominated by a beak of a nose, two dark eyes and a thin slash of a mouth. He was sneering when she opened it, but he caught sight of her and his lips twitched into something that was almost a smile of welcome. Kathryn held the image of Severus' lost youth in her hands and wept, while Ryan stared at her in dismay and confusion. 


	33. What Father Christmas Brought

Chapter 33 – What Father Christmas Brought

Severus held the delicate watch in his hands, staring at the girl, brunette hair carefully arranged and chocolate eyes bright with amusement. Had he received an invitation twenty years ago, had he seen this image, had he gone to her ball, bid on and won Kathryn then -- all these maybes -- what kind of life might he have had? What kind of man would he be today?

He tried to remember eighteen, tried to force his mind back twenty years to the boy he had been and found he could not remember it as clearly as he once could. All these years, he had flogged himself for the actions of that boy and yet, looking at this tiny image -- all bright colors and smiling eyes -- new thoughts occurred to him.

Whose fault was it that he became a Death Eater? His own, of course; he topped the list, but how many other people had moments in their lives when they might have stopped, reached out a hand and changed his destiny? Kathryn's mother had never sent a portrait of her daughter to Severus' father; she hadn't considered a Snape to be good enough for her precious girl. The Marauders had tormented and tortured him all his years of school; they could certainly take partial blame for the man he became. Still, in the end, did it matter? He had been one person, now he was another, and what did it matter any more how he got there? Maybe the past was just the past and he could let it go now. 

He put the watch into his pocket and stepped back into the front room. Kathryn was seated on the couch still, clutching Ryan and crying and the sight of it tore at him. Had he offended her somehow by leaving the room so abruptly?

"Kathryn?" She looked up at him and wordlessly handed him a small silver locket. He opened it and looked into the eyes of a glaring teenage boy who gave him a disdainful once-over. "I know I'm ugly but it's no reason to cry, woman." He pulled out his handkerchief and handed it to her. She laughed a short, rather bitter sound and accepted the scrap of fabric.

"You are not ugly." She blew her nose and kissed Ryan. "I just looked into those eyes and knew that at eighteen, you would never have given me a second look." She sat there, clutching the baby and looking forlorn.

"No eighteen–year-old boy is intelligent enough to pick a decent girl. Teenage boys are all idiots, Kathryn; they look at a pretty face and a big smile and miss the vacant inattention in the girl's eyes. At eighteen, I thought Narcissa Malfoy was the perfect woman." He spat that out with some embarrassment and Kathryn's wide-eyed gaze made his lips twist in self-disgust. "Now I look at her and cannot fathom how I could have been so stupid."

"She is very pretty." Kathryn said in a doubtful tone, trying manfully to defend his younger self. He barked a laugh and shook his head.

"You, however, are beautiful." He cupped her chin in his hand and watched a smile bloom on her lips. Ryan grabbed at his hand and he smiled at the baby.

"Let's see what else we got for Christmas." She dazzled him sometimes with how much she believed in him; it could be quite humbling.

They finished ripping into the presents with a contented feeling of well-being in their hearts. Ryan got clothes and toys from all their friends and also from the circle of young Hogwarts girls who adored him.

"He's five months old and already has a harem." Severus muttered as another set of adorable booties was tossed into the pile. Kathryn chuckled at his outburst and went back to reading a book on Arthurian Legends that Potter had bought for her. 

His own gift from Potter had been a charmed CD player that worked in a magical environment and a collection of Sex Pistols CD's. Severus had grinned at the present, remembering a certain event in his seventh year when he had snuck off school grounds to see them in concert and the horrible detention he had received for that infraction of the rules. As bad as the detention had been, it had also been worth every minute that he had spent scrubbing the school corridors. 

Lupin must have told Potter about the incident. These charmed Muggle devices were enormously expensive, but then Potter could afford it, he thought wryly. The Potter family fortune rivaled the Malfoy's own and Potter could afford anything he damn well wanted. 

He had received books and potions ingredients from Miss Granger. She had apparently rifled his stocks checking to see what he was either low on or missing altogether; her methodical nature amused him. The books had surprised him: The Feminine Mystique and the complete works of Kerouac were not what he had expected from her. 

Draco's usual exquisite gift this year was a silver portrait frame. Delicate swirls of filigree graced the edge, in the shape of twining serpents so real they seemed ready to slither away at any moment, and the goblin maker's stamp on the back told him it was a very expensive gift. Of course, it was also quite beautiful and he cared more about that than the price. 

Albus had sent him Christmas boxers with winking lights all over them. Kathryn had suppressed her laughter after one glance at his expression, but the slight choking noises gave her away. Minerva had sent him a pair of earmuffs in jet-black wool and a matching muffler, while Poppy had sent him a book of poetry by Tiberius Fenny who wrote poems about modern wizarding life. Severus knew that there was quiet support in the gift from Poppy and tucked the pocket edition into his coat. 

He looked at the pile of loot and shook his head. Two years ago he had been happy to get the two presents from Minerva and Albus. Now he got a small mountain of gifts for Christmas, including getting one from Potter, which had to be the most radical change of them all. 

He finally reached for the green and black wrapped box with a silver bow and a tiny angel tag that he knew was from Kathryn. She had reached for his at the same time and they looked at each other with trepidation as they went to open each other's gifts.

He pulled away the paper to reveal an ebony box with an Oriental dragon carved into the cover. He lifted the lid and, nestled inside the black silk lining, there were two daggers with a strange almost iridescent oily sheen to them and a wave pattern along the edge of the blades. They were long and straight with wrapped hilts and the dragon motif was repeated with an inset metal relief on each hilt. He thought they were beautiful and obviously very old.

He carefully removed one blade and felt a strange thrum along his arm as he held it.

"They are the Oni no Hissatsu, they're demon killing blades." Kathryn's voice held a touch of awe as she looked at them and Severus raised an eyebrow at her. "I wrote to my Sensei in Japan about our little problem and he sent these for you." She continued and he had to wonder about all the things she was leaving out. The blades were far more than just steel, no matter how many times they had been folded by the smith who made them. There was a fluidity to the way the blade in his hand moved as he twisted his wrist into the proper grip that spoke of something near sentient.

"Did Lady Freddy forge these too?" He asked, but Kathryn shook her head. 

"They were made by the same swordmaker who forged Taishou, my own blade." She answered, her head resting on her hands as she watched him play with the knife. 

"Taishou?"

"Crushing Victory." She grinned at him. "The Muggles around him thought he was mad; they found that his swords had real wills of their own and many of his blades were destroyed." Severus jerked his head up in horror at that thought. "The truth is, though, that they had only one purpose and resented being used for anything else. That resentment could turn to anger at whoever wielded them and their propensity for hurting their owners is what gave them a bad name." Severus looked down at the blade in his hand and felt no sense of danger from it; there was warmth and an almost affectionate feeling coming from the knife. 

"That purpose would be hunting Demons, am I right?" He felt the knife warming in his hands as he spoke and knew the answer before Kathryn replied.

"Yup. The swordmaker's family was butchered by Demons in his youth and he dedicated himself to eradicating their kind. Use the blades for Demon killing and they will never turn on you. Taishou was forged for a princess, to be her defense against all harm, so it doesn't have the same bias as his other blades. However, it can only be wielded by a woman." She shrugged and he stood, taking a knife-fighting stance, and brought the blade up in a sweeping arc, flicking the tip out at the apex of the curve. It felt like an extension of his arm and he grinned savagely. He was looking forward to trying it out on Fenchurch and Gideon. 

While he carefully replaced the blades into the box, he listened to paper tearing as Kathryn opened the substantially smaller package he had given her.

"Oh Severus." Her whispered voice made him relax; she was staring into the box with a misty-eyed smile and he smirked, quite satisfied by her reaction.

"A small token of my fondness, Madam." He waved off her thanks and she chuckled at his mock-formality. 

"You are a dreadful romantic deep down inside, aren't you, Severus?" She looked at him with loving eyes and a laughing mouth as he pasted on his best Evil Bat expression.

"If so, it must be buried very deep inside." He sneered, though his eyes never left the delicate porcelain cake topper that she was turning in her hands. A miniature Severus and Kathryn, dressed in wedding robes, stood together, hands clasped on a pedestal while a rose trellis arched over them. While he watched, the tiny Severus grabbed the tiny Kathryn and kissed her.

"I think I had better put them somewhere private." Kathryn chuckled, as the porcelain couple became entangled in a deep embrace.

"Perhaps that would be wise." Severus raised a brow at the shameless pair. "Then perhaps we should take their suggestions to heart." She returned his smile with a rather wicked grin of her own and handed Ryan off to Winky, who watched them depart with sparkling eyes.


	34. Cairo Haunts Us All

Chapter 34 –Cairo Haunts Us All

Kathryn was sitting in the dark watching Severus sleep, she was doing that a lot lately, she found. Silvered moonlight in shafts of pure white lay across the floor. The black bulk of the bed hulked in the center of the room and the armchair that Kathryn was curled up in was deep in the shadows. At night when the light was low, the world was black and white. Color had leached out of everything and it all was just light and shadow. Kathryn held Ryan against her and watched the shadow that was Severus, his chest rising and falling as he slept. Her mind was too full of thoughts for her to sleep.

Ryan had been restless and she had ended up holding and rocking him for some hours before he fell asleep. He had turned six months old on the fifth of January and time just seemed to fly by. He grew like a weed, longer of body and more adept at wriggling and now crawling. He raced across the floor when given the chance and keeping up with him was difficult sometimes. She wasn't sure how they were going to cope with him walking.

They had spent the weekend at the Order's Headquarters, a working vacation as it were, and Kathryn traced the unfamiliar shapes of furniture with her eyes, feeling out of place. Even as a full-fledged member of the Order, she was uneasily aware of being an eagle among doves. Her brisk, no-nonsense manner combined with the reputation that preceded all Agents made the others more wary than friendly. 

Oh sure, Kingsley, Arthur and Moody all thought she was divine, but the rest of them eyed her askance, even more so because of her obvious closeness to Severus. Tonks seemed torn; she was very much aware of the fact that she owed Severus and Kat her life, but at the same time, as one of Severus' former pupils, she had a natural antipathy towards him and Kat's cool demeanor was the antithesis of Tonks' enthusiastic warmth.

It was amazing how many of those who had once had him as a professor seemed to be still utterly terrified by Severus, even years after school.

Voldemort had summoned Severus as soon as he had received word of his recovery and congratulated him on having 'passed his test'. Severus' loyalties hadn't been questioned even while he was being tortured, just his ability. Severus was to be put back on guard duty outside, which relieved and frustrated him at the same time. He was relieved because he was not as likely to have to kill anyone; frustrated because his chances to save lives were significantly reduced.

Severus stirred and she popped the baby back into the little crib beside the bed. She crawled under the covers and pretended to be asleep. It would only worry him if he knew how many sleepless nights she had had since the night Hagrid had dragged his half-dead body into the Hospital Wing. 

He didn't know she had sat up all night with Hagrid, leaning on his huge shoulder and feeling like a child beside his bulk, watching Severus fight for life. She had prayed and cried and snuffled into the spotted handkerchief Hagrid had handed her and tried to ignore the calm figure standing in the shadows, watching with her. She would tell no one of the Baron's presence; another secret to hold in her heart like all the others. Sometimes she imagined the secrets were like birds fluttering in her chest, struggling to break out and fly away. She needed sleep. She needed a night of uninterrupted rest. She needed to not be doing this anymore. 

She remembered David's face in the forest; where was he now, what was he doing and would she end up as mad as he was from all this? She stilled the whispering voices again with a sigh.

"Kathryn? Are you awake?" He whispered and she turned to meet his gaze with a small yawn.

"Uh-huh." She mumbled. "Is it time to get up?" She feigned waking grogginess and he kissed her, his roughened cheek grazing hers. He had the most amazing eyes, she thought with some amusement, as he dragged himself off to the bathroom. First thing in the morning they were a dark warm brown, but as the day passed and his aggravation grew, they would darken until they were near black by night. She wondered if a happy life would leave them permanently brown. Still, there were times when they went dark that weren't from anger.

She felt a rush of desire just thinking a about that and wondered if jumping him in the shower was in order.

Ryan stirred and made a whimpering noise and Kathryn sighed again. Oh well, she thought, maybe later. She picked up the baby and went into the other room in search of a bottle.

Kathryn sat at the table in the kitchen and tried to hide her rising irritation. Was this an Order meeting or a Canasta party? Moody was watching her with an amused expression and she wondered if her mounting blood pressure was somehow visible to his magic eye.

"You cannot store dodgy goods here Mundugus! How many times do I have to tell you that?" Molly was scolding the skinny, shifty-eyed little man as he tried to hide a box of second-rate quills behind his back. In his top hat and tails, he looked like the Artful Dodger gone to seed. Molly, in a mish mash of different prints all topped off by a maroon shawl, looked harried and upset. 

Arthur was involved in a discussion of Ministry actions with Kingsley, who today sported a ruby in his ear instead of his usual gold hoop. Arthur's bright blue eyes were flashing with irritation, while Kingsley was all mahogany stillness with a steady gaze as they talked.

Severus sat beside Kathryn, leaning back in his chair with his hands folded over his stomach, looking both bored and angry. Tonks kept watching him from across the room as though she wanted to say something but she lacked the courage. She twirled a lock of neon red hair between two restless fingers and Kathryn was taking mental bets on what would break first, her hair or her nerve.

There was the sound of the front door closing and then footsteps. Kathryn turned her head towards the door, hand on her wand as they weren't expecting anyone else tonight. The figure that appeared in the door was one she hadn't seen in over five years and a grin spread across her features as the lanky redhead came in.

"Well, if it ain't Billy the Kid!" She watched his face go through several different expressions: shock, calculation, amusement and welcome, in rapid succession.

"What on Merlin's green orb is the Ice Queen doing in London?" He shot back with a lop-sided smile.

"Bill Weasley! That is no way to talk to Professor Leblanc!" Molly stood and embraced her son and Kathryn had to laugh. "It's so good to have you home, dear."

"Weasley!" She howled, for she had never known his last name. "I should have guessed by now!" She rose and gave him a hug as well, still laughing.

"Professor? I wouldn't let this deranged lunatic near children!" Bill chuckled as he returned the hug and gave her a peck on the cheek.

"Let me guess, Cairo?" Severus growled from the table and she looked at him in surprise. He was glaring daggers at poor Bill and Kathryn wished she had something in hand to throw at him.

"You still seeing that dancer, Billy?" She asked to lessen Severus' glower.

"Naw, she left me for a sitar player." He shrugged and she shook her head.

"More likely she found out about the fruit seller." Kathryn waggled a finger at him and they settled around the table.

"Something you want to tell us, Bill?" Arthur asked with a small smile. The eldest Weasley son just shrugged again and then shot a glance at Kathryn.

"What happened to that partner of yours, the one who went starkers?" Bill leaned forward on his elbows with his tanned forearms crossed. He looked much the same as the last time she had seen him, though in his Arab garb he had looked a little wild and dangerous.

"Still starkers." She retorted sharply and he shook his head. The room had gone silent and all eyes were on the two of them. It occurred to Kathryn that outside of presentations she didn't talk much in meetings.

"Stop blaming yourself about that. It took a team of Arithmancers six months to recreate your work and six more months to figure out what went wrong. You had two hours while sand was pouring in to kill us all." Bill waved off her snort of disgust.

"We shouldn't have been in there in the first place. I knew better than to tomb dive without doing the research first." She could still remember the moment of horror when she realized what they had triggered. That instant of frozen inaction had haunted her for years.

"There was no way to know that the curses on that tomb would be so sophisticated; for the period it was, they were incredibly advanced." Bill argued back and she scrubbed her face with her hands. "You saved our lives with that curse break." He pointed out.

"I unleashed the angry dead, Bill, and drove two people crazy." She almost whispered that last and Severus gripped her hand under the table. Their audience was riveted by the story; she looked around at the staring faces, a mixture of wonderment and fear on every face.

"Why did you call her the Ice Queen?" Moody asked into the sudden silence.

"Because even when they were coming at us, she just kept firing off hexes. I have never seen her show fear in the face of danger or falter when there were lives at stake." Bill smiled at her, his teeth white and gleaming in his deeply tanned face. The flaming red hair of his parents and siblings was bleached orange by the desert sun, but looking at him she could see the family resemblance. That calm surety that Arthur carried with him everywhere was there also in his son.

"Might I point out that it was a certain Billy the Kid who stole us the carpets that saved our bacon?" Molly made a noise that was half disapproval and half pride and Arthur just snorted. The rest of the Order was watching them both with a mixture of curiosity and confusion. Tonks raised her hand, as though in a classroom.

"Um, what were you doing in Cairo?" She asked when Kathryn's head turned to her.

"Killing Aizul De Babi." She answered with chill tones. The silence that settled this time was heavy and almost frightened. Aizul had been the Dark Wizard whose power had held sway over the Arabic wizarding world for eighty years. His murder five years ago had led to amazing new freedoms and opportunities for the Arab wizards and witches, but it had been the kind of nightmare assignment that Agents cringe at.

"Um, you killed the Dark Vizier?" Tonks broke the silence with a squeak. 

"Bill, were you involved in that?" Arthur's quiet voice was devoid of all emotion as he asked his son that question.

"No Arthur, we literally ran into your son while we were escaping De Babi's rather irate body guards." She put Arthur's mind to rest. It was once thing to kill in battle, she knew; it was another thing to assassinate a sleeping man in his mistress' bed. At least it was to someone like Arthur. Severus and Kat knew that killing was killing and that the best killing was where you did all the attacking and they did all the dying.

Still, from the looks on the faces of the Order, she could tell there would be some mental adjustments that needed to be made for those who divided their killing into neat categories.

"Dad, you didn't have to live in a country with De Babi, so you don't understand. He was pure, unadulterated evil and if I had been asked to help them kill that bastard, I would have leapt at the chance." Bill stared them all down, the whole Order, as he spoke. "It was the right thing to do."

"Well, what about this Cairo thing, was that the right thing to do?" Molly was staring at her eldest as though he were a stranger and Kathryn winced at the question for she had asked herself that same thing a thousand times. If she hadn't been so elated by her success, if she hadn't almost enjoyed running from De Babi's dogs, would she have been so careless as to where they were running?

Bill's face changed and his eyes met Kathryn's and she knew what he was seeing. She remembered the dark shambling forms chasing after them as they dodged through the Souk. She remembered the screams; she remembered the terror and the blood as she tried any spell she could think of to halt the horrifying progress of the angry dead. Their eyes were shadowed as they shared the memories that had tormented them both. She could see his own nightmares in his face and the way his shoulders hunched.

"What happened in Cairo afterwards was no one's fault, but it haunts us, Mum. Cairo haunts us all." 


	35. Past Regrets

Chapter 35 – Past Regrets

Severus sat in Narcissa's dining room watching the proceedings with detached interest. He had never been one for orgies and this wasn't even a particularly original or entertaining one. Narcissa had put out suggestive food, made a few sly innuendos and then everyone had giggled, stripped and gone at it. 

It was the perfect setting for a bacchanalia, he supposed. The glittering chandelier suspended by charms over the dining room table cast rainbow reflections across the skins of the revelers. The huge oak table with its dragon carved legs was piled high with food and made an excellent centerpiece. The walnut paneling on the walls had been polished to a high gloss so no matter where you looked you could see the reflections of bodies in motion.

Severus observed, feeling cold and sad as he watched people he had once admired and wanted to emulate go through the motions of decadence without much evidence of real enjoyment. Lucius was banging Narcissa on the dining room table, surrounded by spilled food and wine, while she gave head to Franco who was puffing like a steam engine as he was thrusting into her mouth. They all looked vaguely bored.

When he was seventeen it would have been thrilling and enticing. He remembered waiting his turn for …what had her name been? Lucille, Lucinda… he couldn't remember. She had been a hanger-on, a Death Eater groupie; fifteen, with wide green eyes and red hair. They had passed her around like a cigarette and they had all taken a drag. He wondered what had happened to the girl. He remembered the feeling of power in doing the forbidden, the thrill of taking the girl in front of everyone, not that anyone was paying attention. They were all too self-involved to notice any one else's performance.

Voldemort sat in a chair nearby, watching the entertainment with every evidence of enjoyment, which, in the end, was all that was important. Keeping the bastard happy had been the only thought on Narcissa's mind when she set up this party. All his predilections were being catered to: Drink, Debauchery and Denigration, the three D's of Death Eater party fun.

Severus disciplined his mind away from the bitterness of his thoughts and tried to evince interest in Shiv's torture of a Muggleborn witch. He was alternating rape and torture, pain and pleasure, moving towards that perfect balance when they would be indistinguishable from each other. Eventually she would beg for both, too far gone to understand what was happening to her.

Severus had never wanted this life; he had wanted safety, family, and power, to stop being everyone's victim. Now he was utterly powerless to stop what was happening. He had no safety, he had a family he couldn't openly love, and a double existence that had been slowly tearing him apart for almost twenty years.

Kathryn's kisses lingered on his lips, her words of love, echoed in his ears and the memory of her loving hands on his body kept him sane as the girl screamed her climax and began to sob. 

Madam Gideon, Mr. Fenchurch and Miss Mangle entered the room. Miss Mangle was in ice blue satin robes with a pale white bow in her golden curls, Fenchurch was in tails and Madam Gideon wore a black, almost spinsterish high collared gown with sweeping skirts.

Fenchurch's eyes swept the room hungrily; he looked like a starving man presented with a feast. Madam Gideon was expressionless as she moved to observe Shiv at work. Madam Gideon was like an automaton most of the time, cold and empty. Her eyes were flickering over the terrified girl, who was begging for mercy. There was nothing in her eyes, no anticipation, no interest, just the clinical gaze of a scientist conducting a rigorous experiment.

Miss Mangle's gaze rested on Severus, a moment of perfect understanding passed between them and he knew that the party didn't interest her either. Still, she had hungers that needed to be assuaged; he could almost feel her seeking sustenance, looking for a victim worthy of her appetites. His gaze rested on Shiv for a moment and Miss Mangle shot him a look of amusement before crooking a finger at him.

Shiv abandoned the Muggleborn witch he was torturing to trot obediently after Miss Mangle. Madam Gideon lost interest as soon as Shiv left and drifted off to watch Bella doing unspeakable things to Dolohov with a leather flail.

Severus strode casually over to where the young woman hung limp in her restraints. Up close he recognized her -- she had been a Hufflepuff, he recalled, graduated two or three years ago. Damn it, what had her name been? It was something silly like, Dena Digger or some such… Della Duggan, that was it. He pressed his body against her, as though he were taking his turn with her, concealing his face from anyone who might be watching.

"Miss Duggan." He whispered. Her head rose groggily and she looked at him blearily.

"Professor?" She sounded frightened, but not panicked. For a Hufflepuff she was holding up incredibly well.

"I am going to give you something to drink, you will fall asleep and then I will try to get you out of here. Do you understand?" He asked her in the same tone that he had asked her for her homework assignment or to serve detention and the very familiarity of his voice seemed to center her attention.

"Yes, Sir." She drank the Draught of Living Death, recognizing it as soon as she tasted it. He remembered that as a potions student she had been less of a dunderhead than most and her look of quiet gratitude reminded him of why he came to these damnable parties in the first place.

He removed her restraints and propped her up, feeling her pulse slowing to a stop under his hands. Brown hair shot with copper streaks and matted with blood and filth tickled his ear as he watched her breath fade away. Her amber eyes went matte and he gave a manufactured sigh of disappointment.

"What's wrong Severus?" Lucius was standing beside him, his voice purring in Severus's ear. White blond hair draped over his nude body, the sculpted angles and curves that made up Lucius Malfoy bathed in the multi-colored lights from the chandelier. His gray eyes, so cold and unfocused, betrayed the fact that his seeming sanity was a thin layer of control over a yawning chasm of madness. One push and whatever was left of Draco's father would tumble into the void.

"Shiv played a little too hard with her. She's dead." Severus managed a touch of annoyance mingled with cold detachment.

"Clumsy oaf. He never had your touch with torture, Severus." Lucius was looking at him with fond remembrance and Severus dredged a memory up of a time when he had enjoyed Lucius' company and he smiled back.

"I was never your equal in that, Lucius." Severus replied with a faked humility that hid his inward horror. He knew that Mengele couldn't have matched the icy perfection of Lucius at his worst. The cruel indifference that Lucius was capable of made Severus shiver in dread.

"You flatter me, Severus." Lucius lapped up the praise hungrily and Severus reminded himself that while Lucius was easy to pander to, he was not as easy fooled in other areas. He gestured to the girl he was holding with his chin.

"The usual place?" He asked and Lucius nodded.

"Yes, the midden heap is the best place for her now; make certain Nott doesn't see you leave with her, you know how he is." Lucius frowned with distaste. Malfoys were never vulgar and Nott's preference for …unmoving…partners was, in Malfoy's book of vulgarity, a major faux pas.

"Indeed." Severus allowed his own disgust to show in his voice and tossed the dead weight over his shoulder. Using a levitation charm would be less work, but it would also attract Nott's attention. He was a bloodhound for that sort of thing.

Lucius ran interference for him, distracting attention away from his activities as Severus got the girl out of the dining room. 

Parkinson was in the hallway, looking pale and shaken, Severus passed Fenchurch returning to the party and the shiver that ran through him at the other's nearness had a primal fear at its core that flooded his stomach with acid terror.

Parkinson looked up; he had pale thinning blond hair and watery eyes, a weak chin and the pug nose he had gifted his daughter with. He was trembling from head to toe and his eyes when they rested on Severus were filled with loathing.

"Parkinson." Severus found that his voice had gentled unexpectedly when he spoke to the man. Perhaps it was the memory of Parkinson's daughter trembling and trying not to cry as he laid her on a bed in a darkened room. Guilt could be a powerful force.

"Snape." It was there in the other man's voice, a kind of defeated knowledge. Fenchurch must have told him.

"Give me a hand here, will you." Severus called and after a moment Parkinson nodded and lifted the girl's legs. Severus grabbed her around the torso and they carried her down to the kitchens. A house elf opened the metal grate that led to a short drop into an icy river that swept the trash and refuse out of Malfoy manor.

Severus palmed his spare port key into the girl's pocket and lowered her into the noisy river. He told Parkinson to keep a watch for Nott and while his back was turned he muttered the activation key into the hole. A soft popping sound and the girl was safe with Kingsley. He slammed the grate shut to cover the lack of a splashing sound. Luckily, Parkinson was too shaken and upset to notice much so his rescue of the girl went unnoticed. 

"Snape, can I talk to you?" Parkinson's voice was filled with the expectation of rejection and there was a moment when Severus did think of saying no. Still, he had taken the man's daughter, orders or not, and he did owe him at least the opportunity of letting Parkinson call him a bastard to his face. 

"Certainly, Parkinson." He replied with feigned indifference and followed him from the kitchens up to an unused parlor. The room was obviously one of Lucius's masculine haunts. Framed hunt prints, lots of green leather, a big fireplace and brandy decanters gave it that stereotypical English drawing room look that only existed when interior designers tried to create something 'British' that would really only be enjoyed by American tourists.

The two men sat in matching leather armchairs in front of a roaring fire and Parkinson summoned a bottle of brandy and two glasses. They drank in silence while Parkinson tried to gather his thoughts. Finally he blurted his thoughts out.

"Did you rape my daughter?" Adam's apple bobbing and voice quivering, Parkinson was close to tears.

"Our Lord ordered me to, Parkinson." Again, he found his voice being far gentler than he had expected it to. Somewhere between his brain and his vocal chords there was a misfire.

"Was she all right?" It took Severus a moment to decipher the question, thinking for a moment that he was being asked about her qualities as a bed partner before he understood what was really being asked.

"Of course she wasn't 'all right', Parkinson. I am twenty years her senior and her teacher as well." The words came out sharply and he clamped down hard on the urge to shout at the other man. "I was as gentle as possible given the circumstances but I cannot see how she would not be traumatized by the experience." He had shown some of his bitterness there and Parkinson met his eyes with an almost compassionate look.

"I was so afraid you would gloat." The weak little man confessed. 

"She was one of my Slytherins; I have never before been forced to harm one of my own." Severus acknowledged and felt the sharp acid taste of regret in the back of his throat.

"I did this to her, Snape." Parkinson was staring into the fire with a grief-stricken look. "It was my involvement with the Dark Lord that brought her to that." The admission had cost the other man; Severus could see it in his haunted eyes.

"We all have to serve, Parkinson, in one capacity or another." It was the party line, but delivered with an expression of understanding and compassion at odds with the coldness of his tone. Parkinson nodded his comprehension of the sentiment and the implied warning beneath it. They all had to serve. The only other option was death and that was no real option; not when you knew that your death would leave your loved ones defenseless.

"I wish I could see her again, tell her how much I love her." Severus watched him drink the brandy in slow measured sips. Even devastated and in pain, Parkinson was too much the Slytherin to get drunk in enemy territory. 

Severus left him there, certain he would do nothing foolish and returned to the party. He wondered, though, how many would he have to kill to get justice for all those injured by Voldemort? How much blood would be required to wash away all these sins?


	36. Lemonade

Chapter 36 – Lemonade 

Minuet had decided that she was going to have to break down Harry's defenses, one way or another. Kissing was fine but if she couldn't go to Hogsmeade with him, if she couldn't even be seen in public with him, then she wanted a reward for her good behavior and it wasn't going to be a few chaste kisses.

She spent a week plotting her attack. She discarded potions and charms as being too likely to backfire on her and decided to go for the direct approach. So she found herself in the Room of Requirement with a fireplace, loveseat and romantic music setting the scene. There was only one thing missing: Harry.

He was late, which he almost never was. She was sitting with all the accoutrements of romance but not the object of her desire. She was tempted to burst into frustrated tears but controlled herself sternly. A Gryffindor, no matter how much she loved him, wasn't going to make her cry. He was twenty minutes late though; could he have changed his mind?

Oh Merlin, what if he fell in love with some other girl? What if he had run into Cho Chang in Hogsmeade? Would he leave Minuet for the older girl? Minuet began to pace, suddenly worried. He didn't like the fact that she was so much younger, he had said it often enough. Insecurities began to worm their way into her mind and she stopped suddenly in the midst of her pacing.

What was wrong with her? Why was she getting all knotted up over this? She was a Slytherin and Cho was a Ravenclaw. If she tried to steal Harry from Min, then she would simply win him back and then wreck horrible revenge. She imagined Cho with boils and a lingering disease that ruined her beauty.

"Min, so sorry I'm late. Professor Dumbledore ran over with my Occlumency lesson." Harry's voice, breathless from running drew her from her schemes and she tossed herself into his arms with a happy cry.

"Harry! I was getting worried!" Min scolded him with a relieved smile and he dropped a kiss on her mouth that left her warm and breathless.

"Min, what's to worry about? Hogwarts is pretty safe." Harry was chuckling as she hugged him tightly.

"You'll think I'm silly." It did seem silly when she looked into his eyes. The warm emerald eyes glinting behind the glasses were rock steady and full of emotions that made her wriggle with happiness.

"Never." He assured her with perfect seriousness and she kissed him lightly.

"I was sitting here thinking you had decided you weren't in love with me anymore." Admitting it made her embarrassed, but the piercing look that Harry gave her made her feel naked under his gaze.

"Minuet, I was gifted by a faerie. I can only love one person for all time and that's you." Minuet gasped in shock and clutched him hard. A terrible understanding rushed through her.

"Oh Harry. I promise I won't die on you. I promise." He held her tightly and kissed her face. She was so frightened of leaving him alone in the world with no one to love that she almost missed his next words.

"Just promise you won't stop loving me." It was almost whispered and she laughed as she remembered why she had left Trelawney's class the first day.

"Not likely, Harry, not with my ancestry." He drew back and looked at her in surprise. She grinned at him. "I am my mother's daughter too you know. I get the Snape lineage from her; she is Uncle Severus' first cousin. They share the same grandmother." He was looking at her blankly. "Great-Grandmother Agatha was a half-blood like Professor Flitwick."

"So, your Great-Grandmother was really short?" Harry asked still looking confused. She giggled and he grinned, happy that he could surprise that sound from her.

"No silly, she was part-dragon." Harry's jaw dropped. "When I walked into Trelawney's classroom the first time, all the crystal balls went cloudy. She told me that my kind mate for life and I therefore better find a boy who can only love one girl or spend my life being miserable." He was looking at her with eyes gone huge and mouth open and she took advantage of his momentary shock to kiss him again.

"Well, I guess we are stuck with each other." He said when she let him up for air and they both began to laugh. Harry picked her up and began twirling her around and they both laughed until they fell in a heap onto the soft carpeting.

She was lying on the floor on top of Harry and she could tell he had noticed that fact. She ran her hands through his hair and kissed him more gently, letting her mouth linger over his. He twisted underneath her and she suddenly found herself on her back, breathless and staring up into his eyes. His body pressed her into the floor and his expression was quite intent.

"Does Snape know?" He asked her and she was momentarily confused. The attempt to think clearly while he was lying on top of her, his breath coming in short bursts, was not entirely successful.

"Does he know what?" She managed to gasp out, there seemed to not be enough oxygen in the room, because she felt quite breathless.

"About the mating for life thing." He clarified and she shrugged.

"Well, it's never come up in conversation, so I don't know." She didn't understand why he was talking instead of doing so she followed a suggestion she had overheard one of the seventh year girls making to another. She shifted her leg to lie between his and rubbed her thigh against him.

It must have done something, because he gasped, his eyes closed and his back arched. She felt quite smug; it seemed that those girls knew what they were doing.

"I am asking…" He took a deep breath and ran a hand down her thigh, which shut off most of her higher brain functions. "…because it might have a bearing on whether he murders me for this or not." His hand worked its way up to her hip and traced the curve to her breast and then he stopped.

"Harry, don't stop, that feels amazing." She protested, but he kissed her very softly and then pulled himself off her with a groan. He stood up and then reached down to help her stand as well. Minuet hated it when she pouted but to be given a taste and then to have it snatched away was amazingly frustrating.

"We have forever Minuet." He whispered into her ear and stepped back, taking deep steadying breaths. "We should wait."

"Until what, Harry? Until I'm older? Until you're dead?" Tears began to fall down her face and this time they weren't faked. She could feel Voldemort's shadow on everything around her. Harry wrapped her up in his arms and whispered soothing nonsense. "I hate him, he's taken so much from us, your parents, my father, your god-father, my home. I don't want him to take you too." She was sobbing in earnest now and he was rubbing her back and holding her tightly.

She was crying for all of it: for her poor father, for her lost home, for the tree house her father had built for her that the Aurors had pulled down looking for Dark artifacts. She was crying for her sister, who had been so confused and unhappy when her friends stopped coming by to play with her.

She was crying for the boy Harry had been, living in a cupboard under the stairs and Dudley's second bedroom. She cried hardest for that, because she had her mother and sister and he had no one. He had been alone locked in the dark without even memory to warm him.

"Hush, angel, don't cry. I promise I won't die on you either, okay?" The desperation in his voice penetrated her grief as nothing else could have and she nodded against the wool of his jumper.

"I'm sorry." She mumbled and pulled a handkerchief out of her pocket. She blew her nose and wiped her eyes and, looking up at Harry. She almost laughed at the panicked expression on his face. "Silly, I'm not going to break. I've just been under a lot of stress lately." She poked him gently and he relaxed.

"We all have." He dropped a kiss on her head. "Are you feeling better?" 

"I guess I never really grieved for all the things I lost. There was so much to do, so many things to take care of and get done that I never stopped long enough to really think." She leaned against him, pressing her head against his chest, listening to his heartbeat.

"I love you, Min." she could hear his voice vibrating in his chest and it was solid and alive. 

"I love you too, Harry. She snuggled against him and let herself believe in a future that contained the two of them.


	37. The Dancing Lesson

Chapter 37 – The Dancing Lesson

Kathryn watched as Min grumbled through the stretching routine that Kathryn insisted upon before they practiced kata and sparring. Kathryn grinned behind the girl's back and she twisted her own torso, stretching out her arms until the vertebrae made an audible cracking sound and she felt the tension leaving her body. 

Somewhere along the way, the martial arts class had gone from Minuet and Kathryn working together to where it now included Hermione, Fauna, Ginny and Luna.

As the only Muggleborn in the class, Hermione had an easier time picking up the physical skills of fighting than the other girls did, but she was constantly confronted with the strange and hidden cultural pitfalls of the pureblooded world. It was a revelation on both sides.

"So if Draco has put in a bid, does that mean that they are engaged?" Hermione was still trying to puzzle out the marital customs of her adopted world, even as she did side lunges

"No, they are engaged after he gives her a ring. Right now they are just pledged; she can still back out if she decides to." Fauna interpreted patiently from her position on the floor, grabbing her toes. "He is honor-bound by the bid he made but she isn't until she accepts his ring."

"So she can string him along if she wants to." Ginny added with a grin. "Mum kept Dad waiting for three months before she accepted his ring." Ginny was using the bar to stretch and the reflected image of her grin was clearly visible in the mirror.

"Only three months? Mine kept my father waiting for a year." Minuet chortled and the girls laughed except for Hermione who was watching them with confusion.

"It's a dance, Hermione; a delicate maneuvering for power, prestige, and status." Kathryn took pity on the poor girl. "Most pureblood families raise their daughters for one purpose: to marry and breed heirs." Hermione made a face, but the other girls just nodded.

"I'm lucky, 'Mione." Ginny said gently to her friend. "My father doesn't care who I marry, as long as I am happy and in love."

"You are lucky." Fauna gave the older redhead a look of envy. "My father can only think of bettering the family's status by marrying me and my sisters off to high-ranking families."

"That's horrible." Hermione was looking at Fauna with a shocked expression.

"You don't know what it's like though, for those of us from less exalted families. We are snubbed at parties and looked down on. I would have happily married anyone my father told me to just to stop the whispers and the teasing." Fauna had spoken more in that one speech than she had in the past month and a half.

"But not anymore?" Minuet asked her best friend.

"No, I don't care anymore. There are so many more important things that whether you are first or last in walking into dinner." The haunted look might never completely leave the girl, but Kathryn could see that Fauna had been changed in many ways by her experience. "I don't have to be able to do the Hevaida perfectly to make someone a good wife." Again all the pureblooded girls nodded and smiled and Hermione was left looking perplexed. 

"The Hevaida is a traditional dance preformed by pureblooded girls at their balls." Kathryn interpreted the cultural reference for Hermione.

"Really? You have to get up in front of all your suitors and dance?" Hermione looked upset by the thought. 

"We all start learning it when we are little. By the time we are eighteen we can do it in our sleep." Minuet shrugged. "It's kind of a final exam for being a debutante." She added and the other girls nodded. 

"My mother died before she could teach me." Luna said suddenly and the other girls all looked at her in surprise.

"Surely you had an aunt or grandmother…?" Min, Fauna and Ginny looked horrified.

"Dad traveled too much." She looked off into the distance. "Besides, any man I marry will have to not care." Despite the brave words, Luna's voice had a forlorn quality that tugged Kathryn's heart. 

"Take positions." She commanded, and Ginny, Minuet and Fauna all lined up neatly and posed carefully for the first movement. A quick charm and the music started.

Kathryn stepped into line with the other girls and they began to move through the paces of the dance. Twirling and dipping, arms floating, heads up and bodies moving in timed perfection. When the music ended they all halted in final position in perfect unison.

"It's beautiful." Hermione murmured, envious of the other girls' graceful movements.

"Take positions again." Kathryn sent the girls back into first positions and Kathryn pulled Luna and Hermione into line at either end. Just as her mother had done for her and her grandmother before that, she adjusted the two girls' positions and stances until they were just right.

For the next two hours she and the other girls demonstrated steps, corrected movements, and applauded progress.

"I think Hermione must be the first Muggleborn ever to learn this." Fauna commented quietly. 

"Won't you get in trouble, Professor?" Minuet asked suddenly.

"Not if we all can keep a secret." Kathryn gave them all a wry smile. "And isn't that the silliest thing imaginable, keeping dancing lessons a secret?" There was general agreement on that subject, but she still made sure to warn Hermione as they were all getting ready to leave. "Hermione, even having you see the Hevaida would have some of the nuttier purebloods calling for your death; to learn it…well, just don't let anyone find out, okay?"

"Not a word." Hermione agreed. "But Professor, it really is beautiful. I thought there was nothing of any value in pureblood culture, but there is some real beauty there under all the ugliness." Her wistful tone made Kathryn pat her gently. 

"There is a lot of ugly to get through." She warned and Hermione gave her a look of understanding before she left.

She stormed into the dungeons in search of her lover and maybe a bottle of something strong.

"Pleasant meeting with your mother?" Severus asked from the comfort of his chair by the fire. She controlled the urge to hex the smirk off his face and settled for venting her spleen. 

"Why can't the woman figure out that I am thirty-seven and perfectly capable of running my own life?" She asked the rhetorical question with hands thrust out in aggravation.

"Probably for the same reasons as my father." Severus gave her the Look, the one that spoke of untold detentions that he would like to assign.

"What is wrong with people that they think they have to meddle in everyone's lives?" She stormed over to the fireplace and warmed herself up in front of it. Severus put down the book he had been reading and tugged her onto his lap.

She curled up against him, feeling the scratchy wool of his frock coat against her cheek. The subtle scent of potions and the warm masculine scent of him calmed and soothed her instantly.

"What was she on about this time?" Severus' voice wove its spell on her once more and she snuggled closer with a happy sound.

"Oh, she found out about the locket that Grand-mére sent you and wanted to tell me again how horribly unsuitable you were." She murmured as the feelings of happiness and contentment he generated in her relaxed her.

"Ah, and did she have an alternative suitor?" There was something in his voice, some tensing of his muscles, that made her peer up at him in concern. 

"Why do you ask?" His lips thinned and she caught the faintest glimmer of hurt in his eyes which he quickly veiled.

"I was wondering what sort of man she fancied for you." There it was again -- a definite tinge of bitterness.

"She probably would think Lucius Malfoy was the perfect man." Kathryn poured all her scorn into that sentence. "Personally, I much prefer Severus Snape." She ran a hand along his jaw line and felt the tension in it.

"Are those your only choices?" How such a quietly spoken question could arouse such fury in her Kathryn didn't know.

"Actually, my choice is you, Severus, unless you are backing out?" She pulled herself out of his lap and stood, furious and shaking, staring down at him. Hands on her hips and eyes burning she watched him drop his eyes and look away. "What's wrong with you?" She rapped out.

"It just occurs to me that there are many more suitable men in the world that you might prefer." His voice was devoid of all emotion and Kathryn deflated; he was doing it again, having an insecurity attack. She blew out her breath in exasperation.

"Take off your clothes." She snapped at him. He looked up at her in shock.

"What?" His voice was unsteady and rose an octave on the last bit. She shook her head, grabbed her wand out of her sleeve and divested them both of their clothes.

She grabbed his hand, pulled him to his feet and pressed herself against him. While he was still reeling, she kissed him and wrapped a leg around him. She ran a hand down his chest and grasped his member in her hand, quickly arousing him with a gentle caress of her thumb. When he was panting and breathless, she released him and headed for the bedroom. 

"Kathryn?" He sounded utterly confused.

"You are the stupidest man in the world, Severus, and that is saying something. I love you and I want to marry you. Get that through your thick English skull, you moron, and come to bed."

For some reason, this entirely unlover-like speech made him smile at her fondly and cross the room to join her in the bedroom.

"You loud, over-bearing Americans all think you have the monopoly on intelligence." He snarled and grabbing her around the waist, pulled her hard against him. His eyes glittered dangerously and she found her mouth had gone dry with sudden desire.

"Well I wasn't the one trying to get rid of me, now was I?" Kathryn countered with her pulse racing as he pushed her against the wall.

"I wasn't the one going to lunch with a woman who serves the same tripe again and again." He began to savage her neck with his mouth, leaving her breathless and dizzy. 

"It's either that or start a huge argument with half the family." She protested, rubbing herself hard against his leg and panting as he teased her nipple with his thumb.

"So have the row, get it done with, don't speak to anyone who judges you, and stick with the family you do like, you silly woman." He was probing her moistness with his long sensitive fingers and she was having a great deal of difficulty concentrating on the conversation. 

"It would upset my father." She panted and then moaned as he stroked her sensitive spot with his fingertips. 

"If he loves you, he would be more upset by how much discord his wife causes you." He growled and plunged his fingers into her, pumping slowly and driving her mad with pleasure. 

"Okay, I admit to being stupid about my family but it doesn't mean you aren't a git for thinking I would listen to her." She cried out as he pushed into her and began to pump with maddening slowness. She was glad that he was strong enough to keep her pinned to the wall because she didn't think her legs could hold her up at this point.

"I - hate - your - mother." He accentuated each word with a thrust of the hips and she was screaming her agreement with him as he came inside her. 

She collapsed against him and he held her as their pulses slowed and their breathing eased.

"Very well, I'll stop having lunch with her."


	38. The Dreaming

Chapter 38 – The Dreaming

Severus woke to the buzzing sound that indicated one of his Slytherins was upset. He untangled his arms and legs from a sleepily murmuring Kathryn, dragged himself from the bed and went to check the mirror.

Fauna Broomworthy was sitting up in bed, tears running down her face, her mouth open in a soundless scream. He was into his robes with a single muttered spell and down the hall to Slytherin in mere seconds. He rushed through the Common Room, charged up the stair to the girls dorms and pushed open the door so hard it banged off the wall.

Minuet, Silvia Rothschild and Fairy Bower, Fauna's roommates, woke at the sound and made little grumbling and whimpering noises. He ignored them and grabbed the pale, still girl, her mouth still open and staring off at something only she could see.

"Fauna!" He cried, giving her a little shake, but there was no response from her, just the tears that kept leaking down her horrified face. He was at a loss. Minuet came crawling out of her bed and stood beside him staring at Fauna in dismay.

"What's wrong with her, Uncle Severus?" He didn't bother to correct her mode of addressing him; he was too concerned by Fauna's rigid immobility.

"Miss Ravagienne, get Madam Pomfrey. Miss Rothschild, get one of the House Elves to bring some of my special tea as quick as you can." He rapped out his orders and they scurried. "Miss Bower, observe and be silent." The wispy brunette nodded up at him with huge blue eyes. He took a deep breath and cast. "Legilimens!"

He was in a charnel house. Bodies were strewn everywhere and the smell of burning flesh permeated everything. It made him physically ill but he breathed sharply through his mouth and tried to ignore the horrors about him. Stone houses with thatched roofs and wooden beams told him it was the seventeenth century. A woman was striding through the carnage; he recognized her and ducked behind a building to avoid her gaze.

Madam Gideon was dressed in the black and white garb of a Puritan, her hair gathered tightly up into her white cap. The hem of her black gown was wet and heavy and left a trail of red as it swept along the ground. He hid until she was out of sight and then began his search for Fauna. She had to be here somewhere; the spell must have brought him close to wherever her mind had gone to.

"Fauna?" He called softly, his voice the only sound besides the wind and the crackling of flames.

"Professor Snape?" A shadow shifted and Fauna came crawling from the shadows of a nearby doorway. She was dressed in the same period costuming as Madam Gideon, her black skirts aiding her in concealing herself. He strode to the fifteen-year-old girl and opened his arms to her. She stumbled into them and clung to him as hard as she could.

"Hold on, child, I will get you out of here." He assured her, reaching for his wand. Fauna buried her face in his jacket clutching handfuls of cloth in her fists and tears leaking down her face.

"Hurry, Severus." He turned and saw Miss Mangle, her own black dress soaked and tattered and her face streaked with soot. "I can't keep her occupied for much longer." The girl's expression was one of deep concentration; her blue eyes were almost glowing with the force of her will. She looked terribly vulnerable and young here in this place.

"Come with us!" He called to her and reached a hand out to the demon child. She looked at him with eyes filled with a deep sorrowful regret. Their eyes locked, his full of pleading and hers filled with a strange sort of despair.

"Go, Severus, please." It was the "please" that made him pull his wand and end the Legilimens spell. His eyes never left Miss Mangle though, as he got Fauna to safety. He doubted he would ever forget the look of terrible longing on her face as he vanished. 

He opened his eyes to Fauna's clear gaze as she blinked and looked around in confusion. Hands put a cup of tea into his grasp and he sipped it automatically. He looked up to find Kathryn, wrapped in her white dressing gown, hair in a braid down her back and huge dark eyes looking worriedly at him. Albus stood behind her, in a scarlet nightshirt and robe with his nightcap askew and a look of deep thought on his face. Minuet, Silvia and Fairy were huddled together out of the way of the adults, hoping probably that they would be able to find out more if they were overlooked.

"Severus?" The tea was working its magic -- he felt as though he was thawing slowly from the inside out. He gave Kathryn the tiniest of smiles, letting her know that he was well. She poured another cup for Fauna and handed it to the girl who stared at the cup blankly.

"Drink." He ordered and, with the habit of obedience to him ingrained by five years of classes and House inspections, she sipped. Color rushed back into her cheeks and her eyes brightened.

"Severus, what happened?" Kathryn asked with a calmer voice, but still looking rather pale.

"Miss Broomworthy, would you care to begin the tale?" Severus phrased it as a request, but they were none of them fooled -- it was most definitely an order. The girl, her blue nightgown more suited to her than the dream garments had been, looked up with a thoughtful expression. 

"It was some sort of a dream, but unlike anything I had ever experienced before. It was so real, like I was really somewhere else. I was in this village, everyone was dressed in really old-fashioned clothes and it was a Muggle town. There were Muggles getting water from the well and baking bread and stuff. Then this bell started ringing and everyone dropped what they were doing and went to the center of town.

I thought I heard someone crying, so I went to look too and there were these other Muggles dragging a man and a bunch of children out of a jail and into the center of town. The man was all pale and scared looking and the children were crying, the youngest one was like five and she was screaming as they dragged them to these stakes set up. They tied the youngest child to the stake first and started burning her alive, it was horrible." Fauna started to cry, her shoulders shaking. "I heard this shrieking as the child started to scream and when I looked back there was a woman, the child's mother still in the jail and she was crying and trying the rip out the bars. The villagers just taunted her and told her to use her evil magic to save the child. They spit on the children and screamed for blood." Albus had gone pale and Kathryn was looking horror-stricken. Severus felt nauseated and took Fauna's hand in his own.

"They burned them one at a time and made the others watch. Then they burned the man and he just kept praying as he burned. Finally they took the woman out and she looked at them all, she was so quiet and calm now, no more screaming, just cold and silent. She looked at the Muggles who had done all these terrible things and she started cursing them. She said 'You will all pay for what you've done I will find a way to make you all suffer and die.' And she said it very quietly and it was scary what her face looked like." Fauna looked around at the others. "Then this strange man showed up, he looked like a priest, all in black, and he asked her what she would give to have her revenge on the village. She just looked at him and said, "I have already lost everything that means anything to me, you can have the rest." And he nodded and she just seemed to catch on fire inside, she glowed with this light and she just started killing all the Muggles there." Fauna took a deep breath.

"I ran and hid while she killed everyone, the scary man just watched her and this little blonde girl was dancing through the bodies and laughing. They all wandered off to make sure they had killed everyone and then Professor Snape came and saved me." She smiled up at him in the way that only his favored Slytherins ever did, with confidence and affection. She hadn't mentioned his conversation with Miss Mangle and he wondered if she had even heard or seen it.

"Severus?" Albus asked him for his part of the story.

"I used Legilimency to get inside her dream and retrieve her. I found her quickly and brought her back with me." He recapped, skimming over Miss Mangle as well. Fauna's eyes flickered and he knew she had kept silent but that she had heard. He wondered why she said nothing; was there more to the dream than she was telling them?

"We need to put additional wards up, Albus." Kathryn rubbed her hand across her face looking exhausted.

"Yes, we do." Albus agreed and the three teachers exchanged glances. More wards weren't going to keep out dreams and visitations like this, but what would?


	39. Dumledore's Army Attacks

Chapter 39 – Dumbledore's Army Attacks

Minuet and Draco, heads down over the ancient texts that Hermione had unearthed from somewhere, continued in their research even as the sharp words were being exchanged. Pretending to ignore the unpleasant while noting every detail of it was a Slytherin specialty.

"You aren't my mother, Hermione, I don't need to tell you everywhere I go." Ron was arguing with her again, Minuet thought with a sigh. It was obvious that the couple were having some serious problems.

"I know I'm not your mother, Ron, but you've been disappearing a lot lately and I am worried. With everything that's going on lately, I just think …" Ron cut her off savagely.

"That's the problem with you Hermione, always thinking, but never feeling anything! You're cold, Hermione, a brain with legs, but no heart." Ron shouted the last part and stormed out of the Room of Requirement. Hermione stood stock still where he left her, her eyes wide with hurt and tears welling in her eyes. 

Draco rose and walked over to the devastated girl. He put his hands on her shoulders and turned her abruptly to face him. He then reached out, wiped her tears away with his thumb, and cupping her chin in his hand, forced her to meet his eyes. 

"You are worth a thousand of him, Granger, don't waste your tears." His voice was fierce and angry and around the room the rest of the DA made rumbling noises of agreement and approval.

Hermione straightened her spine and the tears dried up. When she had herself back under control, Draco released his hold on her and stepped back. 

"You're right Malfoy. He's not worth it." She replied in cool, controlled tones. Minuet knew that as soon as Hermione was alone the tears would come, but she wouldn't break now. 

Harry came in just then and looked around in confusion. Minuet gave him a little shake of her head and he quickly pretended that he had seen nothing unusual. 

"How's the research coming, Hermione?" He asked with tolerable composure. He would have made a good Slytherin, she mused. 

"Great, Harry. We're making progress." Hermione replied in an almost steady voice.

"Um, Hermione?" Minuet raised a hand and gave her best young girl wide eyed look to the older student. "I'm hungry. Is there any way we could get something from the kitchens?" She put just a tiny hint of pleading into the last bit and she was rewarded by Draco's subtle nod of approval.

"I'll get something for us all." Hermione replied promptly. She gave Minuet a look of gratitude as she escaped the room.

"Nicely done, Mouse." Draco used the childhood nickname only when he was upset, thinking that it lacked dignity. Minuet gave him a sharp glance.

"What's wrong?" She cocked her head at him and crossed her arms. Harry looked between the two of them with a little impatience.

"What do you think is wrong? Weasley might have always been a prat, but he at least had the good sense to date Granger."

Harry frowned at Draco's words, looking irritated.

"They fighting again?" He asked, worrying his lip with his teeth.

"More than that, he blew up at her and it was awful." Minuet confessed. The rest of the DA began to gather around to discuss the event. "It looked like a break-up to me." She dropped her voice a little, almost afraid to voice that thought, but the rest of the DA all nodded.

"I've never seen Ron so nasty before." Susan Bones admitted. The Hufflepuff girl looked rather shell-shocked by Ron's behavior.

"He said she was cold and heartless." Parvati spoke with a hushed tone, as if she was at a funeral. 

"Where is the Weasel sneaking off to?" Draco demanded suddenly. 

"I think we need to find out." Harry's grim expression as he met Draco's eyes across the table silenced the murmuring that had started up. "We'll take shifts watching him." He added looking around at everyone.

"Wherever he goes, it has to be something bad." Lavender commented with a touch of trepidation in her voice. There was nodding and general assent.

"Maybe it's just another girl." Ernie MacMillan broke into the building atmosphere of fear.

"He was talking to a girl in Hogsmeade last time the school had a Hogsmeade weekend" Ginny pointed out. "Some of us saw him." There were some guilty looks and sheepish nods at that.

"If you saw that, why didn't any of you tell Hermione?" Harry looked around at the suddenly averted eyes and shifting bodies.

"Brave Gryffindors." Draco drawled with a sneer. "They appear to have been terrified of Granger." Minuet sighed and looked around at them all.

"But didn't any of you think it was weird? I mean he's dating Hermione and suddenly he's off with some other girl. What if she's one of Them?" Minuet pointed out with some asperity. They all looked at each other as the horror of Minuet's words struck them.

"Where is he now?" Harry broke into the rising tide of guilt with a brisk tone.

"He stormed out." Terry Boot answered with a considering look. "If she is one of Them, then that means that They're in Hogsmeade, because that's where we saw him with her."

"We need to get Professor Leblanc." Neville stood and looked around at them.

"We need to be sure first. If he's just dating on the sly, that's not something we want to drag a Professor out for." Harry replied with a negative swipe of his hand.

"We need to find Ron." There was no disagreement to that. "Search the Castle. If we don't find him in the Castle or on the grounds, then we'll make plans to get to Hogsmeade and find out what's going on."

Minuet and Draco met back up with the others an hour later. It was getting close to curfew and Minuet was concerned. There had been no sign of Ron in any of the areas they had been assigned to search, and from the looks on the others' faces, they had had no luck either. Harry waved the rest of the Army back until it was just Hermione, Harry, Draco and Minuet talking in a huddle.

"Anything?" Harry asked Draco with an expression of resignation.

"No, you?" Draco didn't look like he expected and affirmative any more than Harry had. Harry shook his head with a sigh.

"There's a secret passage into Hogsmeade. Min and I used it last year. I think that some of us need to go and see what's happened to Ron."

Minuet was instantly upset, she rounded on Harry, hands on her hips and glared. 

"No way, Harry. It's too dangerous. You go to Professor Leblanc right now and tell her." 

"I can't." Harry took a deep breath. "It would endanger both her and Snape and you know why. Last year I almost got her exposed as well as killed. Snape needs her alive." Minuet shook her head violently ready to protest, but Draco cut her off.

"Getting yourself killed or captured won't help either, Potter." Draco raised a hand to forestall Harry's next words. "She got hurt because she had to go in cold. Tell her what's up and she can sneak in and do a lot of damage. She was an Agent, Potter." He pointed out to the other boy. "She knows what she's doing."

"We'll compromise." Hermione intervened before Harry could try any more noble heroics. Minuet loved him, but sometimes he could be an idiot of a Gryffindor. "The DA will go in and scout. If we find Ron and he's just been…cheating on me, we come right back. If there is real trouble, I'll charm the coins to alert you and you fetch the Professor. Is that okay?"

Minuet could see a million reasons why this was a very bad plan but she was over-ruled by the others. She watched Harry, Hermione, Luna, Neville, Ginny and Dean crawl through the statue of the humpbacked witch and then waited for the others to disperse before she headed straight for the dungeons. 


	40. Awake and Arise

Chapter 40 – Awake and Arise

Kathryn was reading when she heard the knock. Antigone Terrill had just captured a notorious jewel thief and Kathryn was irritated by the disruption. Wrapping a robe around her she stalked to the door and whipped it open. Standing in the door, still in uniform and looking slightly scared by the expression on Kathryn's face, was Minuet.

"Miss Ravagienne?" Kathryn asked in surprise.

"Harry and some of the DA have gone into Hogsmeade after Ron." She spilled out breathlessly and Kathryn felt chilled by her words.

"Come in." She stepped aside, checked the passage to be certain no one had seen or heard the girl and shut the door behind her. Severus emerged from the bedroom with Orion in his arms and Minuet looked towards him pleadingly.

"What's happened?" He asked. Winky appeared and Severus handed the wriggling baby to her. Minuet rushed to him and wrapped her arms around his waist.

"I tried to make them come get you first, but they didn't want to blow your cover if it was nothing. But I know that Harry knows -- he can't lie to me! Ron's been seeing one of Them!" Minuet was obviously upset and Kathryn was rather shocked by her outburst; she was always so levelheaded.

"Slow down and tell me from the beginning." Severus commanded as Kathryn went to grab clean robes and boots for them both. She found Severus a sturdy cloak with a hood and went back into the front room.

"…and so they went through the Humpbacked Witch to Honeyduke's basement to try to search Hogsmeade for Ron." Minuet was just finishing up her story as Kathryn re-entered and she handed Severus the cloak and a pair of walking boots.

"Passage or broom?" He asked Kathryn.

"Passage, lets be as subtle as possible." She looked at Minuet as she swirled the cape across her shoulders. "Now, why wouldn't he come get me first?"

"Didn't want to expose your loyalties." Severus muttered with a small frown.

"Great, my loyalties would have been better protected if we had had a plan." She retorted. She needed to put a tracking charm on that boy, or maybe a leash. 

"That's what I told him but he never listens." Minuet said with the air of a long-suffering wife discussing an absent-minded husband.

"Well, no use worrying about what can't be helped." Kathryn shrugged and she opened the door to check the hallways. A simple silencing charm on their boots and Kathryn and Severus followed Minuet to the third floor. Minuet led them to the statue of the Hunchbacked Witch, gave them the password and they slipped through the narrow opening and into the passageway.

"I wish I had known of this passage before." Severus grumbled. He had a deep frown on his face as they crawled through the tunnel. He was muttering Harry's name and a few choice expletives that made Kathryn listen intently. Severus' creativity with insults and cursing was awe-inspiring to hear and she was hoping to pick up some good zingers to use. 

"Well, you know about it now." She chuckled. "Cheer up, think of all the House points you can deduct at the end of this." She added with a grin and he shot her a look of annoyance.

"You know full well that anything I deduct Albus will just add back." Severus came back with a snarl. Kathryn, completely unaffected by his bad humor, simply grinned more widely.

"But honey, you can still give him detention." The use of the endearment got her an acerbic eyebrow but the mention of possible detention did cheer him up.

"Perhaps if we keep him in detention when he isn't in class, we can keep him out of trouble." Severus growled. A sudden thought occurred to Kathryn and she smiled.

"Severus, this is our first op together!" She felt a bubbly laugh starting inside her chest.

"Well, don't go all maudlin on me, woman!" He shot her an alarmed look. "Only you would think that going out to rescue Potter and fight Demons and Death Eaters was a sweetly romantic outing." The laugh broke lose at the sight of his face, half-amused, half-irritated.

"You did remember to bring the knives, right?" Kathryn whispered as they reached the end of the passage. In answer, Severus gave a flick of his wrist and the shorter of the two Oni no Hissatsu blades shot into his hand. She really loved this man. Their eyes met and she saw his excitement as well. He might grumble but in the end they were both born to this kind of work and despite the dangers, they loved it.

They slipped out of Honeydukes with no one the wiser and together they snuck through the town, the charms they had cast letting them blend in with their environment. Kathryn could tell where Severus was only by the slight blurring of the concealment charm. 

It took them twenty minutes of creeping before they caught faint sounds that had nothing to do with the late night stirrings of a small rural village. They rounded a corner and saw a narrow side street off the main road that was lined by residential homes.

The far less stealthy group of Harry and the others could be seen peering through the window of a small cottage halfway down the block. Half-timbered with a tiled roof, it looked like a dozen other cottages nearby.

"Gryffindors." Severus snorted in disgust and Kathryn refrained from pointing out that Luna was a Ravenclaw.

Harry and the others were crowded around while Neville stood watch to make sure no one would sneak up on them. Kathryn and Severus did just that and Neville was entirely oblivious to their presence. Kathryn could see clearly into the cottage; Ron's blazing red hair from his seat at a table in the brightly lit room was like a beacon. A pretty girl with cornflower blue eyes and red curly hair was seated opposite him. A matronly woman with her dun-colored hair pulled back into a white mobcap was bustling around serving them crumpets and tea.

Severus muffled a curse and she guessed that the woman must be the Madam Gideon he had spoken of, but the girl was, despite the red hair, clearly Brinna. She had the same face and eyes as she had had in the dream. She wished that she could ask Severus about the older woman but she hadn't a talking charm with her and they were far too close to the children to risk whispering. She really needed to restock her spy gear if they were going to be doing this sort of thing regularly. 

"See, it's just some girl." Neville muttered softly.

"No, it's not, I know them." Harry whispered back. "Hermione, get the Professor, will you?" He added while he drew his wand. There was a crunching sound and the teens whirled to where Lucius Malfoy stood in the snowfall, his hair as white and pure as the flakes falling from the January sky.

"Good evening, Mr. Potter." Malfoy smiled graciously as though they were all meeting at a party.

"Mr. Malfoy." Harry replied with a look of shock. The DA were paralyzed, surprise and disbelief slowing their reflexes. She would need to up their training when they got back. If they got back, she thought grimly, as several more Death Eaters detached themselves from the darkness.

She felt Severus shifting beside her and she followed him; he edged to one side, so that they were both out of the line of fire but capable of firing at will. 

Madam Gideon, Ron and Brinna came out of the cottage, Brinna clinging to Ron in terror, hampering his wand arm with her mock histrionics. The Death Eaters were playing at having captured them and Ron didn't know any better. 

The Death Eaters had Ron, and Severus and Kathryn had the Death Eaters, though they didn't know that. It was a Goblin's Dilemma -- who would die first?


	41. A Fight to the Death

Chapter 41 – A Fight to the Death

Severus caught the Oni no Hissatsu blade adroitly as the small charm that held it in his sleeve released at his whispered command. Madam Gideon was his target but he paused, strategizing how to get to her without that idiot Ron being killed in the process. The blade was trembling in anticipation, this close to a dark creature; the knife was frantic to lash out.

Lucius stood in the lamplight looking like a strange and terrible god, with his mad gray eyes and with pure white hair flowing over the black robes that swept the snow covered ground. In the small circle of light cast by the lamppost Six other Death Eaters moved forward, their wands covering Potter and the other teens. As much as he wanted to kill Madam Gideon, Potter had to be his priority.

He felt Kathryn shift beside him and heard her whispered "Protegere" charm. He relaxed as he understood what she was up to. She would hold a shield over Potter and the others and he would take care of Madam Gideon. If Potter and his friends couldn't take on Lucius and six Death Eaters than the prophecy was useless anyway; Potter would never be able to beat Voldemort.

Severus edged quietly around the group, making sure each of his footsteps fell in the shadows and that he made no sounds that might give him away. 

"Lovely night for a stroll, Mr. Potter." Lucius was saying with a supreme indifference to the pointed wands and bristling hostility of those around him. Potter, for once, was thinking with his head instead of his wand. 

"Yes, it is, Mr. Malfoy." Potter answered politely, his eyes flicking as he studied the odds. Severus approved of the boy's level-headedness as he circled behind the Death Eaters and began to move closer to Madam Gideon, Miss Mangle and Ron.

"Isn't it rather after your curfew though?" Lucius asked, continuing in concerned parental figure mode; and still Potter kept his head, merely nodding as he answered in even tones.

"Yes, sir; normally we wouldn't be out so late, but we were worried about our friend." Severus wondered if Potter were being so forbearing because he didn't want to have to tell Draco that he had killed his father tonight. Or maybe he was just stalling for time, hoping for a miracle.

Severus reached a point where he had to slip from the shadows and cross a patch of light to get near enough to Madam Gideon to attack her. The blade had gone deadly still, keeping itself silent so as not to attract any attention to Severus' approach. Severus stroked it lightly with an approving thought for it. It seemed to warm in his hand in response to his understanding.

Miss Mangle's eyes glanced in his direction and he could feel her nearness and knew she sensed his proximity as well. Whatever bond had formed between them, they were mutually aware of each other on a deep level. He somehow knew that she was trying to find a means to remove herself from the confrontation and he needed to give her that means. He waited for the next round of polite conversation between Lucius and Potter and while everyone was distracted, he passed behind Miss Mangle and Ron. Strangely, the blade didn't respond to Miss Mangle's presence and he wondered briefly what that meant before his focus returned to Madam Gideon. 

He slipped silently behind Madam Gideon and plunged the dagger into her back. She screamed an unearthly, high-pitched wail that shattered the windows around them and sent an explosion of hot wind racing away from her in a rapidly expanding cloud that turned the ice {pick one:}hanging from the eaves/covering the ground/in the trees around them to steam in an instant. The blade heated to a glowing red and Severus dropped it, his hand scalded by the heat and steam. It fell into the mud with an audible thunk.

Madam Gideon's body began to burn as though she were being consumed with fire from the inside out. She tumbled face first into the mud; smoke and flame rose from her and soon engulfed her form.

Miss Mangle shrieked and, grabbing Ron, she dragged him away from the fallen woman; the foolish boy went with her. Severus darted into the shadows again, his concealment charm starting to fade.

While he was busy dispatching Madam Gideon, the standoff between Lucius and Potter had devolved into chaos. The first hexes the Death Eaters had thrown had bounced harmlessly off Kathryn's shield charm but the students had scattered and Kathryn couldn't shield them all. Severus recast his concealment charm while keeping one eye on the battle. 

Potter shot off a stunning hex at Lucius who nimbly dodged it and fired an Avada back at him. Potter ducked the killing curse and shoved Luna out of the way of another killing curse at the same time. Luna rolled to her feet and stunned Lucius, her face an expression of perfect calm.

Severus heard Bellatrix's voice casting Cruciatus at Luna and saw the Ravenclaw girl fall screaming to her knees. Neville was engaged with Shiv who cast a flame hex at him setting his robes on fire. Neville quickly rolled through the mud putting out the flames that were eating at his robes and came to his feet with the Oni no Hissatsu blade in his hand. Spinning nimbly on one foot, Neville brought the blade up and around, impaling Bellatrix upon it. Neville paused a moment, blade in hand, and watched as his long-time nemesis pitched over onto the ground, bleeding her life out into the mud. 

That seemed to be the signal to retreat. One black-cloaked figure -- Shiv, Severus guessed from his movements -- grabbed Lucius and apparated away with him, while the other Death Eaters dispersed as the noises of the battle woke the people in the nearby houses. Shouts and torches approached. Severus moved farther into the shadows, searching for Kathryn. 

He could feel Miss Mangle somewhere nearby and wondered about Ron's safety. A subtle tingle in his mind and he knew the boy was back on his way to the school, unharmed and apparently unaware of the battle that broken out behind him. He breathed out in relief and moved back towards the sweet shop and the secret passage.

"Honey?" Kathryn's voice called out. She was smart enough not to wander around calling his name, but he wished she could have chosen something else to call for -- he had never been one for cutesy endearments.

"Yes, Muffin?" He sneered, irritation coloring his voice. He heard a muffled laugh and she was beside him once more. 

"We need code names so I can find you in the dark without blowing our cover." She whispered to him as they made their way back to Honeydukes.

"What was your codename at your old job?" He asked softly in return.

"Ariel. It was the name of an angel." He could feel her shrug rather than see it and he nodded, thinking.

"How about Azrael? I always identified with him." He muttered and then a thought hit him. "I hope Longbottom is careful with that blade. I want it back."

Severus and Kathryn swept up from the dungeons, all traces of their excursion wiped away, to join the rest of the staff in the hallway as the Aurors dragged Potter and the other children in. Someone in Hogsmeade must have had the good sense to floo the Ministry because Shacklebolt was one of the Aurors present, his hand resting lightly on Potter's shoulder as they entered.

The children looked stunned and weary. Longbottom, he noted, still had the blade clutched in his hand and Luna still looked as though they had all just had a pleasant outing in the country.

In the confusion of explanations and deducting of House points, Severus sidled up to Longbottom.

"Mr. Longbottom, if you wouldn't mind returning my blade?" Severus whispered to the boy. Longbottom looked up at him in shock, his mouth round and his eyes full of questions.

With a small smile starting to form on his lips he slipped the blade to Severus.

"Nice job on the demon, sir." Longbottom breathed out almost silently. Severus raised an eyebrow and nodded to the young man before slipping back into the crowd. He strongly suspected that he had undermined the terror with which Longbottom had always beheld him. It was irritating but he had needed that knife back before the Aurors examined it; it was far too distinctive to escape notice.

Albus was eyeing him with that omniscient expression again and Severus grumbled to himself, knowing he would have to give the Headmaster an account before the night was up. Damn it, when was a man supposed to get any sleep around here?

Kathryn shot him a sultry look from under lowered lashes and he rolled his eyes in mock aggravation. Of course, a near death outing and danger would get his homicidal lover in the mood. Severus resigned himself to another sleepless night. At least some of it would be enjoyable. He raised an eyebrow at Kathryn and they slipped away from the crowd. Albus's briefing could wait; he had far better things to do with his time.

As he took Kathryn's hand and walked down to the dungeons, he could feel a weight lifting from him. Bellatrix was dead, she could never change her mind and come for Orion now and he would never have to bed the bitch again. He could almost find it in his heart to like Longbottom for that particular gift. Almost.


	42. Debriefing Harry

Chapter 42 – Debriefing Harry

Minuet and Draco watched as Harry and the others were escorted in by the Aurors. Her heart slowed and she felt the horrible fear easing as she saw that Harry was unhurt. She saw her mother, glasses perched on her nose, coming down the stairs from the Library and stopping to observe the gesticulating and noisy group. 

Harry was standing in the center of the group looking rather stunned. It amazed her how it could hurt just to look at Harry sometimes, to know she couldn't run to him and wrap her arms around him and kiss him in relief.

"Looks like Potter is intact." Draco murmured in her ear and Minuet nodded and flashed him a grin.

Professor Dumbledore appeared and there was general confusion as the Aurors, the students and the professors tried to ask questions, give answers and explain themselves all at once. Finally, everyone was swept off to a large, empty sitting room to sort it all out, though Minuet noted that Uncle Severus snuck off with Professor Leblanc, nimbly avoiding any tedious explanations. Professor Leblanc looked flushed and bright-eyed and as soon as they were out of sight of Dumbledore and the others, they sped off to his chambers. 

Minuet and Draco exchanged a look of amusement and smothered their laughter with their hands. They sneaked back to the Common Room with no one the wiser so they could fall over laughing in peace.

The next evening found Minuet with her feet swinging under the bench in the Potions Laboratory. Harry, Draco, Hermione and Neville sat with her. Harry looked chagrined, Draco irritated, Hermione subdued and Neville shell-shocked. The revelation that his most hated teacher was a spy for the Order had hit him hard.

Minuet wasn't sure that a simple Obliviate wasn't in Neville's best interests right now, but Professor Snape had been adamant that no one cast any memory charms on Neville. He had looked quite green at the thought, actually. She would have to unearth that particular secret later.

"Where is Snape?" Harry asked finally with some impatience. She supposed he wanted to get his reaming out over and done with.

"From the look on Professor Leblanc's face when they left last night, probably still shagging his brains out." Draco sniggered. Hermione flushed bright red, Harry began choking frantically and Minuet busted up laughing. Neville, if anything, looked even more shocked.

"Who knew that a fight was her idea of foreplay?" Minuet gasped out still laughing. Draco went into whoops, almost falling off his chair he was laughing so hard.

"Slytherins." Hermione said in disgust and shook her head at the slightly hysterical pair. Minuet knew that it was partly relief. After hugging Harry hard for several long moments she had proceeded to tear a strip off his hide, her fury as much a reaction to her earlier fears as anything else.

"So what did the Weasel have to say for himself?" Draco calmed down enough to ask.

"He's in love." Hermione's voice was flat and Minuet winced. "He won't believe that she is of the Dark; he thinks I'm just jealous.

"He's being controlled." Draco pointed out, but Hermione shook her head.

"Regardless, whatever was between us is over. I love him, but I can't forgive this." Hermione was studying her hands and Harry was watching her with concern.

"If you can't, you can't." Minuet shrugged. "For him to fall in love with some Dark Creature and not listen to all his friends who are trying to save his soul after everything that has gone on around here is just dumb anyway." 

"Did you all know about Snape?" Neville asked suddenly.

"Yup." Harry shrugged. "It's a secret though, Neville; his life would be in terrible danger if anyone knew." Neville rested his chin on his hands and sighed.

"What's the matter, Longbottom? All your preconceived notions about Slytherins going poof?" Draco muttered and Neville blushed at the words. 

"No, because you're still a prat, Draco." Neville shot back with admirable courage. Draco was so stunned to hear Longbottom say something nasty that he gave a bark of laughter and almost fell off his chair again. 

"Longbottom's got a spine!" Draco crowed in amusement and Neville just dropped his head into his arms.

"Slytherins." He muttered.

Harry simply smiled at the two of them. Minuet hopped down from her stool, still chuckling at the bonding rituals of adolescent boys, and went to find their errant teachers. She pushed through into Professor Snape's private chambers, muttering the passwords as she went, and heard music playing. Curious, she peeked around a doorway and stopped still at a sight she would never have expected to see.

There in the center of the living room floor, Professors Snape and Leblanc were dancing. Minuet knew the dance; she had watched her parents and others dancing it at countless balls and parties. But watching the two professors was somehow different. They thought they were alone and there was a part of Minuet that knew they would be embarrassed to know that anyone had witnessed this intensely private moment.

Professor Snape held the brunette DADA teacher close to him and she had her face turned up to his with a look of deepest love. One arm about her waist, the other holding her hand against his chest, his eyes on her with no apparent awareness of anything else in all the world but the woman in his arms. Minuet felt as though she had walked in on something so personal that she felt uncomfortable witnessing it. 

They moved in perfect harmony, steps matched, and he swung her out and then back in, turning her under his arm with a precise movement. Minuet had seen them dance at the Halloween Ball last year, but that had been a simple waltz; this was a figure dance, and it was incredible the way he spun her and she flowed away and then back, responding to his lead with smooth grace. It was completely different from anything she had seen before. As the music ended he pulled her in against him again and kissed her deeply. She wrapped a leg around him and he ran a hand along her thigh.

Minuet felt a flush rise up her face as she stared slack-jawed. She had known on an intellectual level that they must kiss, but to see the reserved and unemotional Slytherin kiss her brisk no-nonsense Defense teacher with bone-melting passion sent her scurrying back to the lab. How was she ever to keep her mind on her potions classes when she now knew her dour professor to be capable of such tenderness and passion?

"Well, are they coming?" Hermione asked her and Minuet turned absolutely red at the question.

"Apparently so." Draco retorted, seeing Minuet's expression. He and Harry exchanged glances and then they both began to howl with laughter, while Neville, Minuet and Hermione just groaned. 

The two professors came into the room about a half an hour later, looking perfectly composed and proper. Minuet found it difficult to merge the images of what she had seen with how they were now. Did all adults have this double life, the private passions and the outer cool? 

She looked at Harry. She had hidden her feelings for him to protect him; had there been no constraints, she would be dancing in the halls singing love songs to him at the top of her lungs. But the two professors had professional restrictions as well. After all, they couldn't dance like that in the Great Hall; there would be a scandal. Minuet found her cheeks dimpling as she smiled.

Professor Leblanc raised an eyebrow at Harry with a look of stern disapproval.

"So has anyone screamed at you yet?" She asked him.

"McGonagall, Dumbledore, Pomfrey, Minuet and Remus." Harry answered with a resigned tone. "Remus flooed especially just to ream me a new one." He added with a sigh. 

"Have you absorbed any information of note?" Professor Snape drawled with a look that Minuet recognized as amusement, though she doubted anyone but Professor Leblanc would guess it.

"I have, sir. I have accepted the fact that I am a reckless idiot who endangers everyone around me." Harry said this with perfect calm and Professor Snape chuckled, which sent Neville Longbottom back into a near comatose state.

"As long as we are all clear on the issue, Potter." He replied while Professor Leblanc waved a hand in front of Neville's face.

"I think you killed him." She snapped her fingers under his nose but there was no reaction.

"Longbottom, you dunderhead!" Professor Snape roared at the unmoving boy, who jerked back into motion, and smiled.

"There you are, sir. I was worried." Neville told the Potions Master with a happy smile and Professor Snape just smacked his forehead with his hand.

"What did I do to deserve Gryffindors?" He cried with eyes raised to Heaven.

"Would you like the full list or just the highlights?" Professor Leblanc asked him with a broad grin and he shot her a look of intense loathing that sent the whole room into peals of laughter.

"I hate you all; just so you know that." He muttered, arms crossed and brows lowered threateningly, as they collapsed around him howling with laughter.


	43. Staff Meeting

Chapter 43 – Staff Meeting

"The Humpbacked Witch passage has been sealed, but I still think we should hang them all in chains!" Argus Filch insisted. "How many times do I have to…?"

Kathryn settled back in the floral monstrosity with a groan, quickly blocking out Argus's usual whining speech about the lack of discipline in the school and how the judicious use of torture could fix the problem. She had heard this same speech at every staff meeting for a year and a half. She couldn't imagine how the others dealt with it.

Allegra Ravagienne, now the new librarian, still looked rather appalled by Argus. Kathryn wasn't sure if it was his grungy appearance or the idea of her daughter being hung by her thumbs over boiling oil, but either way she seemed rather dismayed.

The meeting was soon over and just as Severus and Kathryn were about to slip out the door, Minerva grabbed Kathryn, while Albus grabbed Severus. 

"Tea in my chambers." Albus commanded and, feeling rather like errant schoolchildren, Severus and Kathryn were marched to the gargoyle.

"Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream." Albus intoned solemnly and the gargoyle began his pirouette, allowing the four to pass and step onto the rising staircase. 

Severus and Kathryn were hustled past the office, up the short staircase and into Albus' private sitting room.

It was a cluttered room, with bookcases on every wall and overstuffed floral print chairs, Victorian tea tables and a dozen small rugs tossed about to cover the flagstone floor. The fireplace already had flames leaping in the hearth and a tea tray was set up and waiting for them. Kathryn and Severus exchanged glances; obviously they had been set up.

They were practically shoved into chairs, had teacups handed to them, then the Headmaster and the Transfigurations professor settled into their chairs and waited.

"Something on your mind, Albus?" Severus drawled, his eyes glinting with suppressed amusement.

"Neville Longbottom used a knife to kill Bellatrix Lestrange. Now, he swears that he dropped the knife back on the street, but the Aurors have found no trace of it." Albus was sitting with his hands crossed on his stomach and was eyeing the young couple over his half-moon spectacles.

"You mean this knife?" Severus flicked his wrist and the blade shot into his hand. It gleamed dully in the firelight, humming with vibrant life. Kathryn found it fascinating, the way it seemed so much a part of Severus' hand. Albus' eyebrows shot up and Minerva gave a gasp of wonder.

"That is not an ordinary blade." Albus murmured with pursed lips.

"No." Severus acknowledged and flicked his other wrist to reveal the second blade. Another small gasp from Minerva and now Albus's eyebrows began mountain climbing up his forehead. 

"Where on Earth did you get them?" Minerva asked rather breathlessly.

"Christmas gift from Kathryn." Severus replied in incredibly smug tones. Kathryn grinned, feeling warm all through from the happy possessiveness of his tone.

"All I got were socks." Albus smiled at Kathryn as he said this and Minerva chuckled.

"He gave me the most delightful cake topper." Kathryn admitted with a shy smile at her lover. Minerva dimpled, Albus grinned and Severus pretended to examine the blades with great interest.

"I got a lovely edition of Chaucer from Severus." Minerva diverted the potentially embarrassing subject with great skill. Kathryn admired her aplomb and slipped her fingers into Severus's hand. She felt his fingers tighten convulsively and she turned white-faced to look at him.

"I am being summoned." He ground out and Kathryn released his hand. It took an act of will to move her fingers away from him rather than to cling to his hand and beg him not to go.

"We will be here waiting, my boy." Albus replied gravely. Severus handed Kathryn the blades, kissed her tenderly and then departed without a word. 

The instant he was gone, she dropped her pose of relaxation and rose to pace before the hearth. Albus sat sipping his tea and Minerva fidgeted in her chair. Kathryn had set the blades on a side table between the two chairs where she and Severus had been sitting and she glanced at them occasionally as she paced.

"Why did he leave them?" Minerva asked her, curiosity in her eyes.

"Because just as they can sense Dark Creatures, Dark Creatures can sometimes sense them. Madam Gideon may have been oblivious in Hogsmeade, but Fenchurch is a far more powerful entity. For Severus to be caught with them on his person would advertise his change in loyalties rather loudly." Kathryn explained as she paced, her eyes still flicking to the softly pulsing blades.

"You keep looking at them." Minerva commented after about the tenth glance.

"They are becoming more and more bound to him as he uses them. They should be aware of his condition on some level." Kathryn gestured to the soft sheen of them; they had changed as Severus had held them and practiced with them. They had gone from a dull and oily texture to the metal having a matte, softly glowing, almost satiny quality. She could almost see Severus' pulse in the gentle throbbing of their light.

"You think we could see if he were in danger?" Albus asked with interest, leaning forward to inspect the blades more carefully.

"Maybe, but more than that, they would revert back to their original form if he were to die." Kathryn was unsure how she managed to say the words without hyperventilating but she maintained her outward calm.

"Do you think that likely?" Minerva asked with a slight tremor in her voice.

"Since he intervened to save Tonks, Shiv Quicken has been very suspicious of our Severus." Albus sipped his tea with hands that were slightly unsteady as he spoke. "Severus has had to be especially ruthless of late to appease the other man's suspicions." Minerva's face became very grave as Albus continued. "The truth is that we must confront and destroy Voldemort soon for I doubt that Severus will be able to maintain his cover for very much longer." 

Kathryn felt cold as she listened to Albus. It was nothing that she did not already know. She had faced the possibility of losing Severus ever since she had first realized that she loved him. Since his near death before Christmas she had tried to steel herself against the possibility that he might be taken from her. For someone who was used to risking her own life on a daily basis, she found the thought of risking him to be mind-numbingly terrifying.

"He's been doing this for as many years as I have." Kathryn sighed, trying to reassure herself as well as them. "He has extra portkeys and Paddy will have alerted Hagrid by now, so he'll be waiting in the forest." Paddy, Albus' most trusted House Elf was tasked with telling Hagrid whenever Severus was summoned. How Paddy knew when Severus was called, Kathryn had never asked.

The sight of Hagrid carrying the shaking and bleeding form, swathed in tattered black still haunted her. How gently Hagrid had laid him down on the bed in the Hospital Wing. Kathryn had buried her face in the moleskin coat and he had patted her soothingly with his huge hand as she wept. She had never been so frightened before.

"He's a canny man, able to read the winds quite well." Albus added with an assured air that they all knew was assumed. 

Bill had called her "The Ice Queen" and maybe once upon a time she had been that: cool, confident and in control. Love had given her strengths she had never known she had, but it had also made her vulnerable to a degree of fear she had never known before either. She needed Severus in order to get through her day; needed to talk to him, kiss him, hold him -- just hear his voice as he asked for the salt to be passed. He had become completely necessary to her life and she was scared to the bone that she might lose him.

The three of them sat, sipping tea that never went cold but that never warmed the place in their hearts that had gone icy with fear.


	44. Death Eater's Dilemma

Chapter 44 – Death Eaters Dilemma

There was an old expression about the rock and the hard place. Severus understood it very well right now; Scylla and Charybdis came to mind too. 

Voldemort had chosen an old cathedral for tonight's rant. He had framed himself in front of the stained glass with the altar behind him, an obvious "mandate from God" ploy that shouldn't have been effective on children let alone grown men and women that should already know better. Yet, there they were, the faithful, lapping up the usual drivel as though it were all brand new.

The priest and cleaning lady were tied up in a back room and Severus wondered if they would be expected to torture and kill them. The priest had been a rabbit-like man with watery eyes and a look of perpetual surprise; he had reminded Severus forcefully of Colin Creevey. The cleaning woman had been a rather pretty Hindu woman, her apron tied over her sari and her red caste mark on her brow. Severus really hoped they would survive the night but he strongly doubted it. He returned his mind to the raving psychopath before him and tried to look attentive and eager.

"My children, the world has labeled us mad but all visionaries have been called mad!" Voldemort was saying. Of course, thought Severus, many genuine lunatics were also called mad, but he didn't mention that. "We are ushering in a bright new future for the wizarding world, a future where bloodlines are sacrosanct, where purity is revered and where the lesser creatures are shepherded and protected by those of us who are wiser and more able.

"I have watched the deterioration of pureblooded influence and the dilution of our once-great blood. I have watched our culture and our ways being destroyed by the unthinking cattle that dare to think themselves our equals. I have watched and it has sickened me. I chose to act, to try to save our world, our culture and our great heritage from annihilation.

"For if we don't act, my children, if we do not fight the mindless bureaucrats who would legalize our extinction and the ignorant primitives who would usurp our positions and our might, then we will deserve whatever dark fate they have in mind for us." Cheering and stomping answered him as his audience responded and Severus joined in the applause and cheers.

He glanced about at the other people who had crowded into the cathedral to listen. There were all types, from businessmen to housewives to aristocrats like Lucius, but they all had one thing in common: they were all purebloods. Severus wondered if, after Voldemort was dead, the Muggle-borns and half-bloods would kill all the purebloods just to be certain that nothing like this could happen again.

Severus remembered a time when he had been proud of his heritage; of his lineage and heritage of his family. There was a time he had believed all this drivel.

Now, he looked around at his so-called peers and felt ashamed of their narrow-minded bigotry and shortsightedness. He wished he were back with Kathryn and that all this was over.

"Woolgathering, Severus?" Lucius asked with deadly softness from behind him. Severus turned to him with a smile that he pulled on as an actor dons a costume.

"I am afraid that I was trying once again to think of a way to get the Potter brat away from Dumbledore long enough to kill him." Severus replied placing a regretful expression on his face. "I feel so frustrated by how close we came."

"It's hardly your fault that we missed him in Hogsmeade, Severus." Lucius shrugged and patted him on the shoulder. "If Shiv hadn't panicked we might have had them." Severus nodded, interested by that spin on things. Was Shiv out of favor now? That would make his own life far easier.

"I cannot blame him for wishing to protect you, Lucius." Severus replied and smiled at his old friend with feigned relief. "If anything had happened to you, our Lord's cause would have been set back." See, I am a loyal little servant, watch me dance, Severus thought with a touch of bitterness.

"My life means little, except that it serves the Dark Lord." Lucius returned with an airy wave. Severus could see his gray eyes un-focusing and the once sharp mind starting to blur. "The loss of Gideon came as a blow to the Dark Lord. I wish I knew how it came about."

"As do I." Severus made a show of worrying his thumb with his teeth as though he were both thoughtful and concerned. "Could the old bastard have some new secret weapon he hasn't told me about?" Severus mused aloud.

"I hope not, Severus." Lucius' eyes focused again like drill bits. "If Bumbledolt {lol}ceases to trust you, your usefulness will come to an end. I would hate to see that happen." Lucius added with an icy tone that caused a genuine shiver in Severus. 

"What did Fenchurch say?" Severus asked, turning the discussion away from himself.

"He thinks that either an angel attacked or that there is a demon hunter in the vicinity." Severus's look of surprise was not faked; an angel was an explanation he himself would never have thought of.

"What of Miss Mangle?" Severus wondered aloud. "Did she sense nothing?"

"Apparently not, which is why Fenchurch is leaning towards the divine explanation. It seems his kind cannot see angels if they don't wish to be seen." Lucius looked amused by the thought.

"A problem for them, indeed." Severus murmured. An interesting revelation as well; he turned the thought over in his mind, wondering how he could use it. If only he had access to an angel. Wait -- didn't Lady Freddy say that an angel grew her tea? He would have to write to his Great-Grandmother and find out more about angels.

"Yes, a flaw that Fenchurch had not bothered to inform the Dark Lord about; our Lord was most displeased." The two men shared an entirely genuine smile at the thought of Fenchurch discomfited. 

"How is Narcissa?" Severus asked casually. He knew that Voldemort was back on his eugenics kick right now. Bellatrix's death had made recruitment and breeding a high priority again.

"We are trying for a second child." Lucius said with grim tones that made Severus raise a brow in surprise. Lucius slipped an arm through Severus' and led him aside. "She has been complaining incessantly about becoming pregnant again." Severus nodded; he remembered Bella's constant whinging all too clearly.

"It is hard on the ladies." Severus said sympathetically. "However, her duty is clear. The Dark Lord has commanded." 

"Indeed, you did yours quite uncomplainingly the Dark Lord has informed me, despite your completely understandable distaste." Lucius and Bella had never got on well; Lucius thought his sister-in-law was an unmannered barbarian and she thought he was an effete snob. Their mutual loathing had been amusing to watch, as long as you didn't get between them.

"I have received a great deal from our Lord; it was a small thing that was asked of me." Severus shrugged modestly. "I would do far more than that if he asked it." Lucius nodded in total agreement.

"Speaking of which, I have yet to meet the child. I am curious about him. Will you bring him by the Manor? Perhaps with your lady, for I have not met her either." Lucius was being gracious and Severus nodded.

"She and Narcissa seemed to get on well and she dotes on the child." He nodded in agreement, making sure his voice had none of his own affection for Orion in it. "When would be a suitable time?"

"The Aurors are always about searching in the days to see if I am hiding there, so try to come in the evening; they are less likely to poke their noses in then." Lucius was tapping his cane against his boot as he thought. "Say Friday night? Even such as the Aurors must go out on Friday nights." The last bit was added as though the Aurors were alien creatures that could not be depended on even to realize that there were rules to the game, let alone follow them.

"Very well then." He agreed, hoping that Kathryn would have one of her anti-Legilimency devices about for her own use.

"My children! The entertainment has arrived." Voldemort called the assembled to attention. Franco dragged Shiv on stage while Nott carried the pretty cleaning woman. Nott tossed the struggling and terrified woman onto the altar while Franco pulled back Shiv's head and poured a vial with a dark green potion in it down Shiv's throat.

"A prolonging potion." Severus muttered to Lucius, who had given him a curious look. "For men with a problem with timing." He added delicately. Lucius chuckled evilly at Severus' explanation.

"How long can it keep him from coming?" Lucius asked with clinical interest, but also cruel amusement.

"As much as they gave him, it could be hours before he can find release." Next a blue potion was poured down the trembling Shiv's throat. "A potent aphrodisiac." Severus commented, as though he were watching a rather dull Quidditch match.

"So he will be mad from desire but unable to finish the job." Lucius was amused. "The Dark Lord is ever ingenious." 

"Indeed he is." Severus used a tone designed to denote pride and certain smug pleasure. Inwardly, he was thinking not about Shiv, who deserved whatever foul end he would eventually come to, but the Hindu girl, screaming on the altar as the now maddened Shiv tore her clothes off and began raping her. The audience shouted either disparaging comments about Shiv's technique or encouragement, but Severus was fixated on the face of the woman, her black eyes wide, her dark skin covered in sweat and soon blood as Shiv clawed at her. 

"She is pretty." Lucius commented seeing where Severus' eyes were.

"Do you think Shiv will leave any for the rest of us?" Severus managed to make his voice sound casual, as though he were not bleeding inside for the terrified woman.

"Doubtful, but not to worry, I brought more." Lucius patted him on the shoulder and Severus prayed he could get through the night without vomiting. 

He stopped to thank Merlin that it was Shiv on the Dark Lord's shit list right now, otherwise the entertainment could very well have been Severus tonight and he doubted he could have kept himself from showing at least some of his revulsion. Even he had his limits.


	45. The Dance of Deception

Chapter 45 – The Dance of Deception

Kathryn had had to owl her Grandmother Olivia to get a proper dress and then have Minerva transfigure it to the correct size since she had nothing of her own that was suitable to wear to Malfoy manor. Her last trip to the modiste's had been far too long ago, she would have to remember to update her wardrobe and soon. 

She had remembered to pack an Obfuscator Pendant when she knew that she was going to be returning to this ever so dangerous tightrope walk, so at least on that score she was covered: she was shielded from the use of Legilimancy.

Orion she rigged with a portkey pacifier she could activate with a single word. It would immediately bring him back to Hogwarts if things got ugly. She wished she could drape him in wards and protections but anything too obvious would be suspicious; that was more dangerous than to simply go without.

The dress her grandmother sent was deceptively simple when she slipped into it. It was demure in front and plunging in back, with a slit up the side. Kathryn's best assets, in her opinion, were her legs and the dress allowed tantalizing glimpses of them as she turned slowly in front of the mirror. 

Chopsticks with dangling beads were placed in her bun; they had the added benefit of being deadly little blades as well. The gun was strapped high on her thigh where it was concealed by the drape of the fabric but could be reached through the slit. A necklace that could be tugged off and used as a garrote went on next and a charm bracelet with dissolvable charms each made of a different potion or poison was slipped on her wrist.

She tucked her wand into a narrow pocket in the dress and twirled, making sure nothing incriminating showed. Finally satisfied that she was armed, dangerous, and well-prepared for a quiet evening at the Malfoy's, she went in search of the man she loved who was taking his own sweet time in the bathroom.

"Severus? We might want to get there before the end of the semester." She called to him and the bathroom door opened and he stepped out. Kathryn was seriously considering flooing the Malfoys and telling them to fuck off because Severus looked far too good to be let out of their quarters.

His hair gleamed in the candlelight, washed, combed and hanging softly about his face. He was dressed in a perfectly tailored pair of trousers and a Nehru style jacket that on anyone else would have looked hopelessly retro but on him looked sexy as hell. The clothes clung to him and outlined his body in a manner that Kathryn found intensely arousing and she wasn't sure she wanted any other woman to see him that way. He had draped a set of formal robes over his shoulders with velvet turned-back collars and deep flowing sleeves. He looked quite magnificent.

"Will I do?" He asked with an arched brow and Kathryn's dry-mouthed nod was the only answer she could give him for a moment. "As soon as we get home, I am peeling you out of that outfit, very slowly." She promised with a voice gone husky with desire. He allowed a small smile and headed for the door.

"Perhaps not too slowly." He commented as she walked ahead of him and he saw the back of her gown. There was a slightly breathless quality to his voice as he said it and she reflected smugly that even after a year and some months of being in a relationship, there were no signs of the passion abating.

Winky handed the baby to Severus. The Malfoy House Elves would care for him at the Manor -- Winky's past was too well known for her presence to be welcome. Her association with the Crouches -- both Senior and Junior -- made her a suspicious choice for a loyal Death Eater's House Elf. Orion had been dressed in Slytherin green dress robes for the occasion with silver piping and a little border of snakes around the hem and sleeves. 

As they left the dungeon, they found Draco and Minuet waiting outside the door. Still in their school robes and looking very worried they fell into step with the two professors. Severus had decided the baby sling didn't suit his outfit tonight and so he was carrying the baby. At almost seven months old, Orion was getting heavy and only a weightless charm kept him from being a burden. 

"Be careful, Sir." Draco was deeply concerned; he was moving with an excess of nervous energy and a frown line between his eyes had been dug deep by his distress. "Mother's letters of late have been even less sane than usual." Draco was looking up at his Head of House as he spoke but his eyes were on Orion.

"We will be cautious, Mr. Malfoy." Severus retorted with a touch of acid. He had been playing this game longer than Draco had been alive, after all. Kathryn, however, was watching the boy's eyes with interest.

"What is it exactly that you fear?" Kathryn asked him.

"Mother keeps talking about how good your bloodlines are, Professor. I think she may want to use you in the Project." Draco took a deep breath. "She doesn't want to have another baby herself." The implications of this made Kathryn shiver in sudden dread.

"Never." Severus's voice was completely dead and cold and it froze the children in place. Severus, still carrying the baby, swept off towards the front door with a fearsome scowl.

"Thank you for the warning, Mr. Malfoy." Kathryn patted the young man on his shoulder, realizing that he had reached her height; she now looked him straight in the eyes. He seemed so much older than seventeen.

"Yes Ma'am." He retreated, taking Minuet with him. The fifteen year old had been utterly silent the whole time. It was a sign of her fear that the usually chatty girl hadn't spoken. Kathryn felt icy cold. Being expected to sleep with Lucius Malfoy hadn't been in her calculations and she was suddenly very afraid.

Malfoy Manor had no more anti-apparation wards around it; the Aurors had disassembled most all the wards in fact, except for the Muggle-repelling charms. Narcissa decried their actions but it made having a secret party a great deal easier; the guests could apparate into the house without alerting the watching Aurors. 

It was a small party -- after all, Lucius wasn't stupid enough to let more than a few trusted souls know that he was even in contact with Narcissa, let alone hiding out in his own home. Severus had told Kathryn about the secret room that Lucius was living in but even Severus didn't know where in the house it was or how to access it. Not even Draco knew that.

They apparated into a foyer done in muted greens and blues; the floor was an emerald toned marble and the walls were papered in striped blue and green with smaller stripes of gold. The chandelier was golden, in the form of peacock feathers studded with crystals, each feather supporting a candle. It was elegant and displayed both wealth and taste.

They stepped from the hall into a large dining room; Kathryn recognized it from Severus' descriptions but the rainbow patterns the chandelier cast on every surface were more beautiful than she had imagined. She was reminded of Hermione's comment of how there was some true beauty hidden amongst all the ugliness of pureblood society.

The room had about twelve people in it; she recognized all of them, either through having met them before or through Severus' descriptions.

Narcissa had dressed in teal with her blonde hair gathered on top of her head with dangling curls brushing her shoulders. She was standing in the center of the room where she could show off her dress to best advantage. The dress was one step away from high-class hooker and Kathryn felt downright prim beside her. Narcissa's dress had panels of sheer fabric the exact same color as the rest that revealed patches of skin. The panels moved randomly across the dress, offering glimpses of different areas and teasing the viewer with the possibility of seeing a very great deal indeed. Narcissa was flirting with Franco and Kathryn wondered if that were entirely wise. 

Lucius was in his full Victorian button up robes in the same silver white as his hair. He looked almost angelic in the candlelight and from Fenchurch's glare, Kathryn guessed that it was a deliberate jab.

"Good evening, Severus." Lucius Malfoy glided up to them when they appeared in the doorway. Narcissa was so engrossed in her pursuit of Franco that she ignored them entirely. Kathryn wondered if the woman was losing her mind. The rules of the game were strict and Narcissa was not playing by them.

"Good evening, Lucius." He shook the pale hand and then turned to Kathryn. "Kathryn, allow me to present Lucius Malfoy." Kathryn smiled politely and extended her hand. Severus had cleverly highlighted the superiority of the Majere connections over the Malfoy line by introducing Lucius to her rather than vice-versa; a delicate maneuver and adroitly done. Lucius frowned but could do nothing but bow over her fingers.

"Mr. Malfoy." She accepted the association, but with him in the inferior role. Severus' clever Slytherin mind had already begun maneuvering her free from any possibility of Kathryn being roped into Narcissa's plot.

"Professor Leblanc." The stiffness of his tone showed his awareness of being out-maneuvered. "This must be Orion. He's a very handsome boy." Lucius was looking at the baby with interest, as though he were cataloguing his usefulness. "Giddy will take him to the nursery."

A House Elf in a dirty tea towel appeared and accepted the baby from Severus, then vanished with him upstairs. Kathryn watched him go, hoping that the infant would not fret without a familiar face.

Severus nodded to Lucius, claimed Kathryn's arm, and escorted her into the party, getting her away from Lucius quickly. He kept her close to him as he introduced her to the others. 

Off to one side, looking irritable and out of temper was Fenchurch. He had Miss Mangle at his side and she had a wary look in her eye. Fenchurch and Miss Mangle wore simple robes of carmine red; Miss Mangle had matching ribbons in her hair. 

It was the first time that Kathryn had the opportunity to speak with Miss Mangle outside of a dream. However the girl gave her a blank-eyed stare when they were introduced that warned Kathryn off. Fenchurch was noticeably agitated and Kathryn wondered why. Something was not right with the Dark Ones and she wished she knew what it was.


	46. Legerdemain

Chapter 46 – Legerdemain 

Severus watched the drama unfolding with a jaundiced eye. He was making mental bets as to how long it would take before Lucius and Franco started hexing each other. Narcissa was clumsily attempting to play one off the other and Severus thought that it was frankly suicidal. Lucius had never been one to play the cuckold and was now even more unstable than he used to be. Franco, and possibly Narcissa as well, could end up on the pointy end of the stick.

It gave Severus an idea. Kathryn was being elegant and gracious beside him and he noted Lucius' eyes on her from across the room. The mere thought of Kathryn being touched by the other man let alone being forced to sleep with him and bear him a child made Severus' blood pressure peak. He had never felt so violently possessive of a woman before. It was rather disconcerting, to be honest; to know that he would kill Lucius with his bare hands before he would let him anywhere near Kathryn.

Franco was leering at Narcissa and Severus noticed Miss Mangle eyeing the couple with interest. She turned and met his eyes and the look that passed between them was all that was needed for him to formulate a plan of attack. He stepped away form Kathryn's side and wandered over to Lucius.

He plastered a concerned look onto his face and sidled up to the other man.

"Lucius." The distant look in Lucius' eyes had been replaced with a heated stare directed at the back of Narcissa's head.

"Severus." Tilting his head in the direction of Franco and Narcissa, Severus began his assault.

"I was under the impression that Franco wasn't able to impregnate Narcissa and that was why you were being asked to produce another child with her." He kept his voice puzzled, but underneath he felt a savage satisfaction at the way Lucius' knuckles whitened around his champagne flute.

"I was unaware that they had already tried." Lucius ground out. Severus shifted his features into a look of concern.

"Well, it was under orders, as was my fathering of Orion. She didn't do it willingly." Severus shot a sideways look at the pair as though he were not entirely certain of that fact. "She has always been obedient to the Dark Lord's will." He added, putting uncertainty into his voice, playing Lucius ever so gently.

Lucius stalked over to where Franco and Narcissa were standing and gave the other man a feral smile.

"So how did you enjoy my wife?" Lucius asked in pleasant and erudite tones. Narcissa blanched, Franco flushed and what happened after that was predictable. 

Severus rose the next morning with a throbbing skull. Kathryn pressed a bottle of Headache Remedy into his fist and he drank it down gratefully. 

"Are the Malfoy's soirees always so entertaining?" Kathryn asked after he finally pried his eyes open and looked around. "I haven't dodged that many curses since I left the MSA."

"No, this one was pretty dull, no one died." Severus responded dryly. Kathryn snorted as she got dressed for the day. 

"True. Still, all I can say is that I am glad we got out of there before the Auror's busted up the place." She adjusted her skirt and tucked her wand into her sleeve. "They are always hard on the furniture. Pity Lucius managed to apparate out of there, though watching him do so with his skin flaying off his back had a certain amusement factor." Her voice was anything but amused as she spoke.

"I am glad you used the portkey dummy to send Orion home." He added, grateful the child hadn't been injured by the fighting.

"I am occasionally reminded that we do not come from the same culture." Kathryn muttered. "To me a dummy is still a store manikin, not a pacifier." 

He chuckled briefly then stooped over the baby's cot and peered down at his son with a concerned expression.

"Do you think he'll be all right?"

"Sure, as long as we send him in for therapy at regular intervals Orion should grow up almost sane." Kathryn muttered as she pulled her teacher's robes on over the long black skirt and gray blouse. She touched a wand to her hair and it coiled itself into a bun. A few pins shoved through the dark brown mass and she was ready to go.

"I suppose that there is no chance that he will ever have a normal life." Severus stroked the baby's cheek with a feeling of regret in his heart.

"Oh really, Severus, with us as parents? Besides love, what is normal anyway? Every family is different from every other family, what one person thinks is normal is considered odd by the next one." She stepped up beside him and curved against his body, slipping an arm about his waist and leaning against him. "Orion is happy with us and he will grow to be a good man; that's all that matters." He tilted her chin up and kissed her with a fine understanding of how damn lucky he was.

Lucius would be running for some time to come and Kathryn would be kept away from him. He felt a savage satisfaction in the knowledge that he had put a spanner in the works as far as Narcissa's plan went.

He left breakfast with a grumble; the article on the "Malfoy Mayhem" in the Daily Prophet had been both lurid and inaccurate. Franco had fled long before the fire broke out, so it was unlikely that it was his body that had been found. In fact, Severus doubted that a body had been found at all. Most of the guests had scattered as soon as Lucius and Franco had started to duel.

Narcissa had screamed and run after a stray hex had hit her gown and turned it completely transparent, revealing a body more middle aged than siren-like. The charms that made her flesh seem firm and young had vanished with the dress.

Fenchurch had watched the brawl with a predatory eagerness, but Miss Mangle had looked quickly bored and sauntered off before the fight had really even gotten going. 

He swept down to the dungeons and caught sight of a smirking Draco Malfoy exchanging snorting laughter with Crabbe and Goyle. As bad as his father's behavior had been last night, the elder Crabbe and Goyle had loyally defended Lucius from the oncoming Aurors, taking down several of them with hexes and sitting on several others. Their laughter was understandable but he suspected it would likely be the last fun they would get from the Daily Prophet for some time to come.

He stepped up to the Library after classes to check on Allegra. He had been startled when she was hired as Librarian. Her husband's death had been the making of her it seemed. She had remembered her Ravenclaw origins and stepped back into the studious and serious young woman he had once known. No longer the fluttering socialite and queen of fashion, she was dressed in simple gowns and plain black robes with her hair bundled up in a bun suspiciously similar to Kathryn's.

The student body was divided on the new Librarian. Ravenclaw claimed her as a former alumnus and forgave all past associations. Slytherin, of course, loved her and went out of their way to make her feel welcome. The Hufflepuffs, though pleasant, were wary and suspicious and except for a few notable exceptions, the Gryffindors were openly hostile.

Potter couldn't be openly supportive for fear of blowing his relationship with Minuet wide open but he was noticeably warmer to her than the rest of his House, as were Granger, Longbottom and the other members of the DA. 

For herself, Allegra was careful not to do anything to make the Gryffindors more suspicious of her, but she also couldn't alienate her daughter's House. Allegra had joined the tightrope walk.

"Good evening, Professor." She greeted him as he entered and he approached the desk with his list in hand.

"Madam Ravagienne, I have the revised reading list for the fifth years." He handed it over to her and her bright eyes scanned it with interest. She nodded and with a wand wave and a muttered spell, the list fluttered off.

"I'll have it all assembled by tomorrow, Professor." She assured him, looking both more tired and far happier than he had seen her in years.

He nodded brusquely and swept off, noting the group of chattering seventh year girls who were whispering and staring as he left. What on earth could have captivated their remarkably short attention spans this time? He dismissed them from his mind immediately and was thus completely unprepared for the rumors when they began.


	47. Rumors

Chapter 47 – Rumors

Minuet frowned at the giggling Hufflepuffs and bent her head back over her books. She had come to the Library to get some homework done since time spent 'studying' with Harry never seemed to accomplish anything other than leaving her breathless and flushed.

"...checks on her almost every day…" The words drifted across her consciousness.

"Poor woman, he's so ugly!" Came the reply and Minuet frowned again, why couldn't they keep quiet?

"Do you think they do it in the Library after hours?" A third voice said with a barely stifled giggle.

"Eew, that's gross. Snape and the Librarian, it's like Beauty and the Beast." Came a fourth voice and now Minuet was listening with carefully concealed horror. How dare they talk about Uncle Severus and her mother that way?

"Yeah, but she was married to worse, maybe she likes them nasty and evil." The first voice sneered and Minuet flushed in anger. They were out of her direct line of sight so she couldn't see exactly who was speaking. She was coldly furious and planning horrible revenge on them all when the giggling girls all drew in a collective breath.

"It's Harry Potter. He is so cute." Breathed voice #2.

"I hear he's a total poofter." Whispered back # 3. Minuet snorted quietly to herself, if they only knew!

"Oh, what a waste that would be!" Wailed #4. 

Harry rounded the corner and met her eyes for a fraction of a second before continuing on. The moment was fleeting but her heart sped up and she flushed slightly despite that. She really loved him.

"So really, do you think that a pretty woman like the Librarian would even give him the time of day?" #2 was asking again, intent on gossiping with the others.

"I wouldn't touch Snape for all the money in the world." #3 retorted. As if he'd have her, Minuet thought angrily. She had decided that #3 was a bitch that didn't deserve someone as wonderful as her Uncle Severus.

"Well, she can't afford to be picky, it's not like anyone else will have her." Voice #1 drawled with a knowing air. Minuet decided that 1 and 3 needed to be hurt badly, preferably sat upon by Crabbe and Goyle. How could they talk about her mother like that?

"But Becca, Snape?" Voice # 3 came back and Minuet filed away the name with plans for terrible revenge.

"Well, what's her other choice, Filch?" Becca snorted and the girls all snickered. Minuet had advanced from pots of boiling oil to dental tools and acid. 

Finally unable to listen to anymore, Minuet got up and sneaking a peek at the four girls, left the Library. She memorized their faces and decided that some way or another she was going to make them pay. Her mother was doing everything in her power to make her life over again and those gossipy cows had no right to make their nasty insinuations.

She was chopping moonflowers with especial vigor in Professor Snape's lab that night, still fuming and angry from the overheard conversation. The Gryffindors were in detention with Filch for some prank or another that had apparently involved Mrs. Norris, one of Trelawney's crystal balls, a jar of bubotuber puss and the giant squid in the lake. Filch had set them to cleaning up the mess and they were not due in the dungeons until late tonight.

Draco was going mad studying for his N.E.W.T.s and had declared himself unable to attend the group for a while so she was alone with the Professor. If it hadn't been for the rage she was in, she would have really enjoyed the time with him.

"Miss Ravagienne, are you finished mutilating that flower?" Black eyes met hers over the chopping board and she returned him a furious glare. His eyebrow arched and she sighed suddenly, letting out her anger with her breath. She wasn't mad at him after all.

"I was in the Library today and overheard a bunch of girls gossiping about Mum." Saying it out loud made it sound silly but Minuet was still hurt by the careless words.

"Ah." Snape nodded and replaced her shredded moonflower with a new one. "Please slice, don't chop." Minuet nodded and tried to turn her mind back to the potion she was working on. It was a simple enough draught of easing; when drunk, it caused tension to melt away and muscles to relax. Professor Snape wanted to make a more potent version to ease the pain of Cruciatus but an analysis of the basic potion had to be made first. 

"Would you care to discuss it?" He asked with the eyebrow at half-mast.

"They said that you were …interested… in Mum and you were the best she could do." Minuet mumbled and peeking up at him watched his brows lower and his eyes go black with anger.

"I will assume that you are editing the comments to spare my feelings." It was as sarcastic and nasty a tone as he had ever used with her and she knew that he was upset.

The door to his private rooms opened and Professor Leblanc entered with Orion in the sling. She paused sensing the tension in the room and looked back and forth between Minuet and her Guardian.

"Problem?" The DADA Professor asked with a puzzled expression.

"Miss Ravagienne was commenting on some rumors she heard in the Library today." Snape said with an angry glare at the bubbling cauldron.

"Which ones? There are several rumors going around the school right now." Professor Leblanc shrugged and slipped the baby free of the sling and set him into the playpen that Albus had spelled especially to keep him safe from any potions accidents in the lab.

"Apparently I am having a torrid affair with Mrs. Ravagienne." Severus growled. The brunette glanced at his face and sighed.

"Well, you are also speculated to have had one with Rosmerta, Minerva and Narcissa Malfoy, so don't feel so bad. In fact, you are suspected of sleeping with everyone BUT me, which is the one thing I cannot figure out." As Professor Leblanc spoke, Snape became more and more agitated.

"I have never had such speculations about my private life before. Why am I suddenly the source of so much bloody interest?" He snapped angrily and Professor Leblanc glanced over at Orion and then back at her … Minuet's mind stuttered, she could not imagine Uncle Severus as anyone's boyfriend and lover was way too intimate a word. She put the mental label maker away as they continued to speak. 

"Severus, you showed up this year with a child in tow; the speculations as to who Orion's mother might be have been the talk of every dorm room all year." She retorted with a shrug.

"They don't think you would date Uncle Severus because they think you have better taste than that." Minuet put in bitterly. "I hate the way they talk about him." She felt her vision blur as tears welled up. "I hate that they talk about Mum like she's dirty because of Dad and that they all think Harry is a poof because he's not dating a girl where they can see it." The tears were flowing more freely now and she felt herself being gathered into Uncle Severus' arms. 

"They are a bunch of moronic dolts whose opinions are as relevant as Sanskrit." He murmured to her. Professor Leblanc stroked her head.

"People will always find something nasty to say, something cruel, because their own lives are so dull and boring that all they have is voyeuristic gossip mongering." The teacher's soft brown eyes were filled with compassion and understanding. Minuet sniffled damply and nodded.

The door opened and Harry and Hermione tumbled in looking filthy and disheveled. Harry saw Minuet's tear-stained face and rushed to her.

"What's wrong? What's happened?" Minuet detached herself from the two teachers and flung herself into Harry's arms. She buried her face in his shoulder and clung hard to him.

"She overheard some nasty rumors in the Library today." Severus took over chopping the flowers; the sound of his knife on the board was strangely soothing. It brought back memories of the summer, when it had just been the four of them together in the peaceful cottage.

Harry stroked her hair and made soothing sounds at her. Hermione clucked her tongue.

"Gossiping hens. I am so tired of all the wagging tongues in this school." Hermione's hand patted Minuet's shoulder absently and then Min heard her stirring the cauldron under Uncle Severus' direction.

Min drew back from Harry and kissed him lightly on the mouth. 

"Better?" He asked her softly, twisting a strand of her hair around his finger. She nodded at him.

"Yes, now that you're here." She admitted and he smiled down at her.

"You know the truth, Min. As long as you know the truth, the lies don't mean anything." Harry assured her and she looked up into his emerald green eyes with a sigh.

"You can be such a Gryffindor sometimes, Harry." She muttered in exasperation. Snape barked a short laugh and Professor Leblanc chortled while Hermione and Harry looked puzzled. "Lies are tools and weapons and I don't want them being used against those I love." Minuet explained.

"I leave all that to my Slytherin sweetheart." Harry chuckled at her. "You just point me at the bad guys, love, and I will do what Gryffindors do best."

"Charge recklessly and heedlessly into the fray?" Snape asked with a wry expression.

"Yup." Harry said with a little grin at the Potions Master. "Just like a good little shock trooper." They all laughed at that, but Minuet looked at her boyfriend with concern. 

She would have to take great care of him; his recklessness, so alien to a Slytherin, was just part of his nature. It was the sort of thing that got people killed. Minuet would have to find a way to prevent that. 


	48. A Tense Situation

Chapter 48 – A Tense Situation

Voldemort had summoned them to the underground chamber again, wherever it was; Voldemort seemed fond of it though Severus found it damp and chilly. In the half-light, Voldemort sat on his throne partially obscured by shadow, his face hidden by his hood, little showing but the glow of his red eyes in the blackness. It was a particularly effective tactic but then Severus was already upset.

Severus stood with outward calm, Miss Mangle beside him, and listened to the field reports that several of Voldemort's agents were bringing in. He was nervous and frightened which was his usual state when he was in Voldemort's presence, but today was by far one of the worst days he had had in some time.

He was cataloguing the very important information with only half his mind. Two days ago Hermione Granger had disappeared from Hogsmeade and Severus was in a terror for the girl. He had heard nothing about her from any of his usual sources and he was frantic as he thought of all the horrible things that could be happening to her.

The Muggleborn witch was far too intelligent and talented to waste in such a way. For some reason he could not get his mind off of the fear that she would be unable to take her N.E.W.T.s; he suspected that it was a trivial concern to mask his imaginings of what she might be suffering.

The students were reacting poorly to the girl's disappearance -- Minuet was teary-eyed and Potter and Weasley looked like the walking wounded. The entire school was in a tizzy over the incident and Kathryn was filled with an icy fury that made Severus rather nervous, which was the hardest part of the whole thing for him. He had never before feared what rage might drive his lover to do. He wanted Miss Granger to be safe for many reasons but he feared that he might simply have to watch her die as he had so many others. He brought his attention back to the conversation, knowing it was vital information.

"The Leaky Cauldron has been rebuilt, of course, but Tom is now much more careful about allowing people through. I think he is learning." Smirked Pettigrew as he gave his report.

"Does he still allow the Mudbloods through?" Voldemort asked, whisper-soft.

"Yes, my Lord." Pettigrew admitted.

"Then burn it down again and this time see to it that someone dies." Was the quiet-voiced command and Pettigrew paled but nodded. "They are all learning far too slowly." It was the slight bitterness in Voldemort's tone that alerted Severus to the danger that he and his allies were in now. Voldemort was losing patience and it would mean more death and more pain for everyone. An impatient Voldemort was an unpredictable and dangerous foe.

Franco entered the room, his black hair gleaming in the torchlight, pale blue eyes eerily bright. He was dragging Hermione Granger behind him on a chain. The girl was upright but only barely and she stumbled as she was jerked forward. She looked far better than the brightest hope of Severus' heart. She was still in her torn and dirty clothes; the blue jeans, white t-shirt and red jacket were filthy but he could not see the tears or stains that would indicate rape or excessive abuse.

"You asked for the Mudblood, my Lord?" Franco bowed and dragged the girl forward, tossing her at Voldemort's feet. She landed on her knees before the Dark Lord but her head was unbowed and her eyes flashed defiance.

"Yes, well done, Franco." Voldemort approved and then he steepled his fingers before him as he studied the bruised and battered girl at his feet. "She is still untouched?" Voldemort's voice was predatory and Severus felt suddenly as though he had been drenched in ice water. He had had no clue that Miss Granger was a virgin, he had assumed that the Weasley boy…Good God, there were so many terrible things Voldemort could do with a virgin sacrifice.

"Yes, my Lord, all our spells confirm it." Hermione shivered and knowing what was required to confirm such things in a truly methodical manner, Severus paled beneath his mask. He would have to kill Franco slowly; a simple Avada wasn't good enough for him. He would have to find some way to get the girl away from here. He couldn't allow the kind of power she represented to stay in Voldemort's hands. Besides, he liked the girl, damn it, though he would rather cut out his own tongue than admit that to a soul.

Voldemort was smiling in a manner calculated to terrify the girl but she was quietly defiant and managed to look indomitable even while on her knees. Severus felt a tiny surge of pride in the child. Beside him Miss Mangle stirred.

"Can we play with her?" She asked with her little girl's voice, gone all predatory and hungry. Hermione was looking at her in horror, her eyes flicking only briefly to Severus. Ah, he thought, Miss Mangle has told her which way to run. He felt a similar pride in the demon child as he felt in Miss Granger. His girls were very clever.

"I am afraid, Miss Mangle, that we need her somewhat intact for the Rite of Purity." Severus could not suppress a shudder at Voldemort's words. The Rite of Purity, it was such an innocuous name for such a horrific ritual. Miss Granger didn't look as frightened as she ought to be; he suspected even her extensive reading hadn't covered such intensely dark rituals. No surprise there, the description of it alone was proscribed knowledge. To have a copy of the text would mean instant death to any wizard or witch in whose possession it was found. One of the key ingredients was a virgin witch of childbearing age. Miss Granger would fit the bill far too well.

"I promise to be careful." Miss Mangle assured him, peeping up winsomely from behind her curls and giving a dimpled smile to the Dark Lord. There was general laughter and Severus made himself join it while Miss Granger shuddered at the sound.

"Someone's coming" Mr. Fenchurch detached himself from the shadows and moved into the room and the assembled Death Eaters fell silent.

Fenchurch stood like a living antenna and quivered slightly as he reached out his senses.

"Severus." Miss Mangle whispered to him. He looked down at her and she reached for his hand. He extended his own and she clasped it tightly. "Severus, I am not able to protect them all, tell me who to shield." Severus looked at Miss Granger, kneeling on the ground, looking lost and frightened now. "Very well." Miss Mangle answered his thoughts rather than any spoken word and he felt a rush of deep affection for the dark creature beside him.

"Be careful." He warned her, her eyes on his were strained and sad.

"I am not good, Severus." She whispered in distress, his emotions were obviously confusing to her.

"I know." He answered softly, knowing that it changed nothing about how he felt. Even knowing what she was and what she had done, he cared about her. After years of being frightened of loving anyone, it was as if Kathryn had pried his heart open and now he was making up for lost time. Now he loved many people and Miss Mangle was one of them.

Tears of scarlet were dripping down her face and with an angry gesture she dashed them away. Severus handed her his handkerchief and she took it with trembling hands.

"I want to be good, Severus." She was shaking beside him and he draped an arm around her and pressed her against his side. He wished he could protect her, but he didn't know how to shield someone from their own soul.

"You are good to me." He answered and she relaxed against him, her eyes closing and her face gone peaceful.

Around them the Death Eaters, Fenchurch and the Dark Lord were directing all their attention outward and the tiny drama being played out in their midst went unnoticed.

There was a loud crash and a portion of the wall collapsed, hexes came flying through and Death Eaters dropped while others began firing back. Aurors came pouring through the hole and Severus exchanged glances with Miss Mangle.

She stepped away from him and her form flowed and changed. Gone was the little girl and in her place was a monstrous demon. Red scales, lashing tail and, curiously, perfectly human blue eyes. She was on all fours, growling at the oncoming Aurors and he watched her move forward with the darting grace of a cobra. Even this way, he realized, she was still a little girl to him. He loved the child unconditionally.

He moved to help Miss Granger with an eye on Franco. He made sure that the tide of battle forced him near to her and then he stepped before her and saw to it that none of the idiot Aurors accidentally hexed the child. If anyone asked later, he could say that he wanted to preserve Voldemort's prize for him.

The Dark Lord apparated away with a pop and other Death Eaters began to flee as well as more Aurors poured through the hole. Severus saw Kingsley and Moody coming thundering in like the bleeding rabble they were. Not that he wasn't glad to see them, but they were going to have to learn the value of stealth and subtlety some day.

Miss Mangle knocked an Auror aside and took a hex that was going astray and would most assuredly have hit Miss Granger.

Miss Granger, in the meantime, was crowded close to his ankles, trying to hide behind his robes. Her faith was touching but he would have preferred it if she had run for cover. Still, she had been barely capable of walking before, perhaps she wasn't strong enough to run. He cursed under his breath and then tossed off a binding hex that looked as though it was aimed at an Auror but "accidentally" took out Franco. He smiled grimly behind his mask; grateful for the protection it gave him. Miss Granger moved away from him slightly, peering around his hems to catch a glimpse of the battle.

"Stay down, girl." He barked and she ducked back behind him. A hex sizzled towards him and then veered away sharply, as though deflected by an invisible hand. Severus looked at the caster in surprise and recognized Auror Intrepidus Gabriel Leblanc, Kathryn's baby brother. He was looking back at Severus with an amused grin before he saluted and charged off after someone else. The deflected beam puzzled him but he had other fish to fry, as Kathryn would say.

Gabriel brought down another Death Eater and Severus grumbled.

"Bloody Americans, always showing off." Miss Granger peered out from behind Severus' cloak again and gasped in surprise.

"Isn't that Gabriel?" She asked and there was a tone to her voice that made Severus sigh. If the young lady had her way, the Auror Intrepidus would be tripped up by the schoolgirl behind him. "Wow, he's incredible." She added with an admiring tone.

"Kindly stay down, Miss Granger." He growled and felt nothing but weary amusement at the ways of the world. The threats to Miss Granger were all gone he realized, scanning the room. Miss Mangle fled in mock terror. Gabriel Leblanc was advancing towards them and Miss Granger was watching him with sparkling eyes. So much for Mr. Weasley, he mused just before he apparated away.

When the smoke cleared, there were a bunch of captured Death Eaters, the avenging Aurors and Miss Granger. Severus and Miss Mangle were long gone.


	49. Grandmere's Forethought

Chapter 49 – Grandmére's Forethought

Kathryn was pacing back and forth beside Severus' apparation point in the forest. She had joined Hagrid in his vigil, frightened to death of losing Severus to some damn fool heroic act. As much as she liked Hermione, she would cheerfully sacrifice her for Severus, ruthless though that might be. She hated the part of her mind that made those decisions with such dispassion. It felt as though the killer in her were a separate being, making choices that had nothing to do with the person Kathryn really was, but even she was aware how much her feelings for Severus tended to shape her judgment these days.

There was a pop, Severus appeared, and she was in his arms and clinging tight to him before he was quite steady on his feet. He chuckled in her ear as he held her.

"Mission accomplished, as they say." He murmured and she relaxed. "Your little brother should be herding her to safety even as we speak." He stripped off the mask as she gave a start.

"Thank Merlin that 'Mione is safe." Hagrid rumbled, his relief palpable.

"Gabriel is here?" She asked in surprise and Severus nodded. Her mind raced as she tried to figure out what had brought Gabriel to England without informing her.

"Tha' be your brother, Gabriel?" Hagrid asked and Kathryn nodded at him in confirmation.

"He nearly shot me but the beam veered off before it hit me." Severus added and Kathryn nodded.

"Were you wearing the watch?" She asked him absently, still checking him for other injuries.

"Leave off, woman. I'm fine." He gently pushed her hands away with a grimace. "Yes I have the watch, what of it?"

"Grand-mére must have put a Blood Charm on it." She answered with a smile at his aggrieved expression.

"Blood Charm?"

"No member of the family can harm you; their hexes will go awry if directed at you." She explained. Severus froze in the act of folding his robes away and gave her a look of stunned disbelief.

"Are you serious?"

"No Severus, I am pulling your leg." She rolled her eyes at him. "Of course I am serious. We all have some sort of ward or protection so that we don't take 'friendly fire,' dear heart." It was one of the few endearments she could get away with using on him.

"Lucky tha', yer gran bein' so clever an' all." Hagrid said in admiration, taking the mask and cloak from the still immobile Severus and folding them into the magical box with practiced ease. Severus gave the half-giant a look of amusement, accepted the tiny box and tucked it back into hiding.

"Grand-mére's always thought ahead." Kathryn replied.

"That must an understatement on a par with saying that Albus is somewhat fond of sweets." Severus snarked at her and she grinned. He must have been rather more worried about Miss Granger than he had let on. She let him mull over his thoughts in peace as they proceeded back to the castle, the herb-gathering basket which had been their cover for being in the forest, hung from Hagrid's meaty fist.

Kathryn knew that she had but to wait. Gabriel was too much a Leblanc to not have to drop by and tell her everything. Once Miss Granger had been checked out and been debriefed by the Aurors, he would no doubt escort her back in order to chat endlessly with his big sister. What she hadn't expected were the companions that he brought with him.

Hermione was escorted in by an honor guard of Aurors and the crowded students cheered them as though they were conquering heroes home from the wars. Which, Kathryn mused was what they were in a sense. It might have been only a skirmish but it had most definitely been a defeat for the forces of badness. The news of Hermione's rescue had steadied a great number of wavering souls and given hope to the hopeless. It was Voldemort's first real defeat in this new war.

Gabriel was flanked by Kingsley Shacklebolt and two slender blonde boys, one with slate gray eyes and the other with gentle blue eyes. They looked about eighteen or nineteen; the gray-eyed boy was dressed in all black, both the slacks and oxford shirt, while the blue-eyed one was dressed in all white -- bleached jeans and a t-shirt. They could have been brothers but there was something about them that drew Kathryn's attention even as the rest of the welcoming committee was utterly focused on Hermione and Gabriel.

Kathryn was careful to keep her face an expressionless mask as Gabriel swept his gaze past her. After all, her cover story of having been sacked from the MSA for dating Severus had led to a "breach" between her and some of the members of her family. That was on top of the real breach that had occurred between her mother and herself. Her conversation with Severus had convinced her to stop having lunch with her mother, which had led to an argument during which she had given her mother precise directions to the portion of the inferno most likely to await her. The benefit to this was that the public battles between them had made for enough of a tangle that it kept Voldemort assured of her devotion to Severus.

Hermione was engulfed by a tide of students and Kathryn watched the crowd sweep away to the Great Hall. Gabriel caught Kathryn's eye and his fingers moved in the patterns of their childhood.

"Where can we meet?" He signed.

She signed back, pointing at Albus who was watching with some amusement, and then signed the word "office" at him. Gabriel gave the affirmative and then seven fingers for the time and swept off. If you hadn't been looking for it, it would have seemed as though all they did was glare at each other for a moment.

They met up after dinner in Albus' office as planned and Gabriel hugged her with his usual exuberance. She hugged him back with a feeling of relief and joy. The worst part of this charade was how much she missed her family.

The room was crowded. Along with Kathryn and Gabriel, there was Severus, Minerva, Albus, Harry, Hermione, Draco and the two blonde boys that Kathryn had noticed earlier. The House Elves were pouring tea and handing out plates of scones, frantically trying to find seats and tables for everyone.

After the pandemonium died down and everyone was ensconced in a comfortable chair and in possession of food and tea, the House Elves vanished with a soft indrawn hiss of air and silence fell. Gabriel was looking at Albus with an expression of hero-worshipping awe and Albus was looking back at him with some amusement. Everyone else seemed to be at a loss for words.

"Thank you for saving my life, Professor." Hermione's voice, rough from hours of talking to the Ministry Officials came up out of her lowered head. She raised tired eyes to look at Severus and gave him a small smile of weary gratitude. "Thank Miss Mangle as well." She added and Gabriel frowned.

"I will pass along your gratitude." Severus had never been gracious about being thanked but he seemed to be making an effort. Kathryn hid a grin behind her hands.

"I am sorry, Professor, but you understand that the demon must be destroyed." Gabriel at his most straight-arrow could be rather pompous, Kathryn realized with a start.

"Shut up, Gabby; you shoot 'em and I'll analyze the situation." She broke in before Severus or Hermione could protest, jerking her thumb back at herself and bringing his attention to her. It was an old argument between shooters and spooks; the training was so different that conflicts invariably arose.

"Surely you of all people would not defend this creature!" Gabriel shot back, shocked and getting angry. He had been trained to be a defender of the innocent, to fight and kill the bad guys. He was a cop, not a spy and sometimes subtleties eluded him.

"Gabby, trust me, if the girl was a danger to us, I'd be the first to stick a knife in her." She soothed him with her smile, though it twisted up a bit in wry amusement. "But she has been turning away from the Dark. She is not the enemy, Fenchurch is and Voldemort is, but not Miss Mangle." She took a deep breath. "Besides I know her true name." The room erupted into pandemonium as everyone began to speak at once, but Albus merely raised an eyebrow, silencing them all without a word.

"Speaking of names, you still haven't introduced these gentlemen to us." He murmured calmly. The blue eyes had zeroed in on the two blondes who had sat silently through the entire conversation.

"Oh, sorry." Gabriel blushed and Kathryn reminded herself once more that he was only twenty-three. He hadn't seen Cairo, he hadn't been in Moscow and he was still in many ways, just a boy. "These are from Grandmére. She said you needed an angel and a dragon for the coming fight." All eyes swiveled towards the two blondes and they grinned sheepishly back. The one all in white had a gentle smile to go with his blue eyes and he spoke first.

"I am Thumiel. I am Lady Freddy's gardener. This is Thomas Harris, Lady Freddy is his mother." His voice had a soothing undertone that made the heart feel lighter just hearing it.

"That makes you what, my great uncle?" Severus commented with humor in his eyes as he looked at the younger man. The boy, for he appeared to be no more than eighteen, squirmed in his chair and looked embarrassed.

"Yeah, I suppose so. Mum mentioned you." He mumbled and Kathryn realized that the boy was shy. He flushed under the intense scrutiny of the people in the room. Draco was watching him in particular interest and Kathryn wondered if it was because he was a dragon, because he was family in a distant way, or because Draco wasn't the only blonde in the room anymore.

"So Marie thinks we need an angel and a dragon for the battle and sends them now." Albus brought their attention back to the more pertinent facts. "I wonder what she saw." He added and Kathryn nodded. She had, as a child, wished that she had inherited her grandmother's prescience, until she had began to see the cost of it as the years passed. Knowing the future and being unable to stop so much of it was a terrible burden.

"She thinks the final confrontation will be soon, sir." Gabriel replied. "More than that, she wouldn't say." Albus nodded and took a sip of his tea.

"Did she have any advice?" He asked and the whimsy was back in his voice. "You know, something along the lines of, 'Stand over here and throw that-a-way?'" There were amused grins on every face as he mimicked tossing a bomb at Voldemort.

"No sir, she said you would need an angel and a dragon and that Harry would know what to do when the time came." Gabriel shrugged. Harry rolled his eyes and snorted.

"Great. Thanks, Madame." He sighed and then shrugged. "Well, that's more information than I had before." He admitted and Kathryn reached over to pat him gently on the knee. The others were conversing now about plans to be made and Kathryn spoke quietly so that she wouldn't be overheard.

"You won't be alone, Mr. Potter. We will all be there beside you." Harry's face was grave as he met her eyes.

"That's all that keeps me sane, Professor." His voice was low and she was the only one who heard it.

Kathryn crawled into bed and snuggled up beside Severus, the look in Harry's eyes haunting her. What must it be like to know that the entire world's future rested on you? He was facing combat at seventeen, not knowing if he would live or die, but knowing that his death would doom all that he loved. She tried to treat him as though he were just another child; that pretense of normality was all that kept her from locking him away bodily to protect him. She was not sure whether, when the time came, she could stand with any equanimity and let him go into mortal peril.

He was a boy, not yet grown; he was sweet and funny and she loved him like a son. Severus' shoulder moved beneath her head and she wanted to cry. She loved him as well and he too would be in deadly danger. Severus would be fighting Fenchurch, Harry would be fighting Voldemort and she could only be in one place at a time. Which would she protect, Harry whom the world depended on, or Severus whose death would destroy one Kathryn Leblanc? There were no easy answers and once more, she got little sleep that night.


	50. An Angel in the Garden

Chapter 50 – An Angel in the Garden

Minuet sat between Hermione and Harry and wondered if she herself was as obvious as Hermione was. Gabriel Leblanc, who seemed nice – but certainly wasn't as wonderful as Harry – was seated opposite them and Hermione's eyes followed him as a cat follows a bird. Minuet kept waiting for her to chitter and then pounce on the poor guy. Well, he was cute enough -- tall slender, dark haired and eyed -- Minuet could approve all those things but he was also so very… earnest. Perfect for a Gryffindor, she thought with a sigh.

The Room of Requirement was a cozy parlor today, done in muted greens and golds with a crackling fire and soft rugs underfoot. Tea services appeared and vanished as they were needed and if you reached out a hand for something you invariably found it beneath your questing fingers. Minuet wondered if the room had a mind of its own or if it was her desires being made manifest through some sort of Legilimancy, like the legendary mirror of Erised. It was hard to tell.

He was telling them a story about Professor Leblanc from when she was an Auror and the intelligence was useful but listening to him expound, all wide-eyed and sweet, was tough for a Slytherin girl. Her dorm mates would eat him alive, she thought with a tiny snicker. Harry had wrapped his arms around her, not because he was jealous but just because it was one of those rare occasions when he could be publicly affectionate. Well, if the inner circle of Dumbledore's Army could be called public.

"Of course then she got recruited to be an Agent and we didn't see as much of each other anymore." The Auror finished with a wistful note in his voice. He was so easy to read that it was almost exasperating.

"That's sad for you but great for us because if she hadn't have been an Agent we would all be dead several times over." Minuet interjected with asperity, thinking in particular about a certain muddy Hogsmeade evening.

The young man looked at her in surprise and she tensed waiting for a sharp reply but Harry's soft chuckle in her ear relaxed her.

"Gabriel, you have to understand that we've been fighting a war here for nearly twenty years; a covert war, by the way. Professor Leblanc's training is perfect for this type of sneaking conflict. In fact, I am one of the people who would have died and not that long ago if she and Snape hadn't done the spy thing and saved my butt." Harry's voice was much kinder and gentler than Min's had been but the tone of command was not that of a teenaged boy but of a man who had fought in that war since he was eleven years old. Gabriel subsided and looked at them with speculation.

"I never meant it to sound as though I was disparaging her choices, just that I miss her and that where once we were so close we could almost read each other's thoughts, now I don't understand half of what she is talking about." He had dropped the earnestness for a moment and been just honest and Minuet wondered if the "earnest young Auror" wasn't as much an act for Gabriel as the "strict no-nonsense teacher" was for Professor Leblanc. Maybe he wasn't so easy to read after all.

"She has two doctorates and it's the spy stuff you don't understand?" Hermione was eyeing Gabriel like he was a box of Honeyduke's finest and Minuet was trying not to giggle.

"Oh well, I admit some of her theoretical arithmantic propositions are a trifle beyond me, but I do understand the equations that she has worked out. I am not up to her weight in genius but I am hardly stupid." Gabriel waved a hand in the airy way that really smart people have when they think something is easy. Harry ground his teeth quietly beside her. He had never grasped arithmancy, at least not on the levels that Minuet and Hermione routinely worked at. For the young Auror to just wave off higher-level math as something obvious was irritating to him.

"Anyway, you were saying something about the attack on Granger. What is this Rite of Purity that Voldemort was trying to do?" Draco interrupted impatiently. Minuet nodded in agreement; there were more important things to talk about right now.

"I am not entirely certain, just the description of the rite is proscribed information." He shrugged and Malfoy looked thoughtful. Minuet shivered; anything so dark that you couldn't even describe it was chilling. Hermione had paled at his words and looked rather shaken.

Minuet speculated that her way of dodging the thoughts about her possible fate that day had been to concentrate on Gabriel Leblanc. Her little spurt of denial had fallen apart in one sentence.

Draco saw her distress and casually rose from his chair, sauntered across the room and dropped onto the couch beside her.

"Well, lucky for you Snape was there." He drawled lazily and dropped an arm across the back of the chair. Hermione leaned into him seeking comfort and Draco pretended that he didn't notice. Minuet mentally applauded the entire scene. Few people knew how deeply Draco felt things but Minuet knew the truth. She knew that he had come to feel a brotherly affection for Hermione Granger and that it was something that he would vigorously deny till his dying breath. His father had made absolutely certain that Draco would never openly display any affection to others. The lesson had stuck: love something where Lucius Malfoy could see it and you would watch it die, slowly and painfully.

"Professor Snape did have a little help." Gabriel commented wryly.

"Oh yeah, Miss Mangle too." Draco added with a nonchalant air and the Auror grimaced. "Did we mention that she helped Fauna when the other demon was invading her dreams?" The blonde haired boy added with his eyes firmly on the older man.

"I'm getting the impression that you are all concerned that I might kill the demon if you don't hammer me over the head with how she has reformed." Gabriel had a twitch to his lips that might have been him trying to suppress a smile or it could have been a display of anger. Minuet watched him in fascination. There was actually more to him than met the eye.

"Something like that." Draco agreed.

"Well, don't worry. I can't kill a demon; you need a special blade to do that and I don't have one." Minuet thought of how Uncle Severus had killed the demon in Hogsmeade. Harry had described the scene to her in detail and certain thoughts occurred to her.

"Where did Uncle Severus get one?" She hadn't meant to ask it out loud, but all the heads swiveled towards her and Neville frowned.

"That blade I picked up…" Since that night, Neville had changed. No longer the quiet unsure boy, he was a sadder but wiser man. He moved with greater strength and confidence but also he seemed more at peace. Killing the woman who had tortured his parents had been satisfying for him but it still hadn't brought his parents back from madness.

"Snape made a point of getting it back from you before the Aurors could see it." Harry murmured thoughtfully. Minuet twisted in his embrace and looked into his green eyes, they had gone distant in thought and she sighed. She might be good at Arithmancy and sneaky Slytherin politics, but Harry had the mind of a strategist. He saw battle formations in his mind, ran through scenarios and analyzed data with a rapidity that surprised people who didn't know him well. Wherever he went when he was doing this, she could not follow and she stayed quiet to let him think. She yearned for a day when he didn't have to think about fighting and tactics, though.

"Kathryn has a friend in Japan. He comes from a line of Demon hunters; if anyone would have a blade to kill them with…" Gabriel murmured and then let the words trail off suggestively. He cocked an eyebrow in a surprisingly Snape-like manner as he spoke. The small group exchanged knowing glances.

"So, you think Uncle Severus is going to go after the other demon." Minuet voiced the thought aloud, hearing the slight trembling in her own voice. She wasn't sure what she would do if she lost Uncle Severus as well.

"Him or Thumiel." Gabriel replied. "Angels come fully equipped with flaming swords which are remarkably efficient for whacking demons." There was that twitch again, a touch of humor or perhaps concern. Minuet was studying him with interest now. There were some interesting subtleties underneath the façade of simpleminded openness. He seemed so open and aboveboard that Minuet began to wonder how often he was underestimated and how many people survived that misjudgment.

"Handy that." Harry had that distant tone still, so Minuet knew that he was thinking hard. "We will have to talk to the angel about it."

"He said he'd be in the greenhouses with Professor Sprout." Hermione chimed in, her lip was caught between her teeth and she was frowning from the effort of her own thoughts.

Gabriel, Minuet noticed, seemed rather fascinated by the girl's mouth. Minuet watched Gabriel watching Hermione and wanted to laugh. She didn't, of course; no Slytherin would ever be so obvious.

After classes the next day they ran the angel to ground. Gabriel, Hermione, Harry, Minuet and Draco wandered into Greenhouse 3, looking casual and as though they had all arrived separately on different errands. After all, most people thought the two Slytherins were Harry's mortal enemies and they wanted to maintain that illusion.

Thumiel was up to his elbows in dirt, repotting iris bulbs with Madam Sprout, who was smiling beatifically up at him.

Around people like Uncle Severus, Thumiel seemed of average height but beside Madam Sprout he seemed a giant, towering over the short, plump herbology professor. There was something about him -- an aura of gentle compassion that eased Minuet's heart as she got closer to the angel. His hair was so pale a blonde that it was nearly white and his eyes were the crystal blue of sapphires. His features were so perfect and regular that even if you hadn't known he was an angel you would have thought him inhuman anyway. He was wearing simple jeans and a white t-shirt, now dirt spattered, but there was a regal quality that transcended his clothes. Thumiel could no more look shabby than Minuet could fly without a broom.

He turned that crystal gaze on them and smiled with surpassing sweetness.

"I'm almost finished here then perhaps you would be kind enough to give me a tour of the grounds." He had a soft voice, as though he were too shy to speak loudly yet the notes were almost musical and carried without trouble to where they all stood clustered out of the reach of the Venomous Taranticula which hovered beside the repotted bulbs.

"Sure." Draco shrugged nonchalantly, as though he had no stake in it and they waited quietly, watching the angel as he tenderly tucked the bulbs into the soil, as though he were putting small children to bed. He was working right next to the vicious plant and it made no move to snap at him, even going so far as to purr gently as he approached it. A quick wash up and brief consultation with Madam Sprout later and they were following along behind the angel as he meandered through the Hogwarts grounds.

"So what did you want to talk to me about?" Thumiel asked them with a smile.

"It's about Miss Mangle and Fenchurch." Minuet started off the conversation.

"Ah, the easy questions." Thumiel chuckled.

"Can Miss Mangle be saved?" Harry asked bluntly.

"Anyone can be saved, if they choose to be." There was a quality of sorrow in the angel's voice that spoke of great loss.

"If they choose to be?" Draco had a way of pouncing on the heart of every problem.

"Free will, ever heard of it?" Harry ribbed Draco who stuck out his tongue at him.

"It's more than that. Redemption is a tricky thing. First you have to believe yourself capable of it and then you have to believe yourself worthy of it. Hell is filled with people who think they belong there." The gentle sadness of the angel was heartbreaking to hear.

"So, somehow we have to convince a demon that she is worthy of redemption?" Hermione mused, still chewing on her lip.

"No, somehow Professor Snape has to." Thumiel paused and smiled at the group of young warriors. "Though honestly, I think he's already halfway there."

Minuet hoped so; she honestly did, for Uncle Severus' sake more than anything else. She couldn't imagine how he would feel if he had to kill Miss Mangle.


	51. Murder by Numbers

Chapter 51 – Murder by Numbers

Severus watched patiently as the cauldron came to a slow boil. He added the next ingredient and then stepped back to observe the resulting color change. The deep azure blue shifted through the spectrum and turned a bright buttery yellow before it became perfectly clear. He allowed himself a small smile and waved away the flame, so that the now complete potion could cool.

"Beautiful." A childlike voice whispered from out of the shadows and Severus turned, strangely unsurprised that she should be here in his lab.

"I have always thought so." Severus replied and watched as Miss Mangle stepped out into the light. She was wearing plain Wizarding robes today, in a deep bloody red, her hair in golden ringlets around her face. Her large blue eyes were fixed on the cauldron, but they were troubled.

"You do it so effortlessly." He wasn't sure if she were referring to the potions making or to life in general.

"I've had a lot of practice." He answered both possibilities and she gave him an appreciative smile.

"Fenchurch grows restless. Voldemort does not give him enough freedom to pursue his own goals." Her voice had deeper resonance now, as though the adult she should have grown to be were speaking through the child's vocal cords.

"It was obvious to anyone sane that their alliance wouldn't last." Severus replied and she chuckled, steeping up to peer into the cauldron.

"What is it?" She asked, her face all child's curiosity. He smiled grimly.

"A deadly poison." Cornflower-blue eyes gazed up at him in understanding.

"It looks quite innocent."

"Many dangerous things look innocent, and many innocent things look dangerous." He turned back to his papers and jotted down a few notes. The scratching of his quill was the only sound in the room for long moments.

"Why do you like me?" The wistful quality of the question caught him off-guard and he found himself answering more truthfully than he normally would have.

"Because we are so alike, I suppose." Her surprised face made him sigh. "We have both done terrible things from a place of hurt and anger, we are both uncertain that we are doing the right thing anymore and we both are convinced that we are evil." The demon child beside him shared his discomfited grimace.

"But I am evil, Severus. I am a demon. You can't get much more evil than that, you know." She was giving him an almost amused look.

"I was a Death Eater, still pretend to be one and I am a spy." He countered. "Besides, you saved Miss Granger, helped my students and myself." She gave him a dubious look.

"I could be pretending to be nice to lure you into a false sense of security." She ventured and he snorted in amusement.

"The wards of Hogwarts have allowed you entrance which they would not have done had you meant any harm here." She cocked her head to one side, still unconvinced. "Furthermore, the demon killing blade doesn't respond to you." He pulled the blade and she recoiled, but then paused in stunned amazement as no humming started up or celestial fire erupted to consume her.

With a tentative hand she reached out and laid a trembling finger on the blade, which remained quiescent under her touch. Her face transformed into a luminous expression of joy and then her eyes clouded and she frowned.

"If I am not a demon, then what am I?" She asked him curiously.

"I don't know." He replied and she looked rather lost. He put a hand under her chin and tilted it up to meet his eyes. "Does it matter? In the end definitions mean nothing. You are what you think you are, Miss Mangle."

"Brinna." She murmured and he nodded, releasing her.

"You are whatever you want to be, Brinna; whatever you choose to be." He spoke from vast experience and she smiled again, if a trifle uncertainly. "Though if you chose to be useful, you could fetch that alembic from under the cupboard." He pointed it out to her and then began clearing up the table for the next bit of work he had to do.

"Useful? I don't think I've ever tried to be useful before." Her eyes crinkled up in a very adult sort of amusement and she went to get the alembic for him.

"I think it is far past time that you tried something new then, don't you?" He was back in teacher mode when she returned and began instructing her in the proper preparation of Wolfsbane Potion. She gave him a funny look when he handed her a Hawthorne spoon and told her to stir the potion while he added ingredients, but she obeyed and was soon equally as absorbed in the process as he was.

He watched her work and it occurred to him to wonder what her future might have been had Fenchurch never come whispering to her.

"Brinna?" He asked another question rising in his mind.

"Mm?" She asked from her stirring.

"Most people who come into contact with demons like Fenchurch are consumed by the evil, eaten up from the inside out." She looked up at him, those sky-blue eyes intent. A small, very adult and terribly weary smile crossed her lips.

"Why wasn't I consumed? Why did I become the darkness instead of being destroyed by it?" She asked the question that was in his mind and he nodded.

"Yes, I suppose that was the question."

"Fenchurch says it's because I had a seed of evil in me already, but I never believed him." She shook her head slowly and that look of terrible sadness had returned. "I always supposed it was because for all I had seen, experienced and done, I still loved my father and still wanted to be his little girl again." Tears of clear crystal rolled down her cheeks and Severus gently spelled the spoon to stir on its own before he took the demon child in his arms and soothed away her grief.

He thought of his own parents and knew in his heart that he would have fallen prey to the darkness because he hated them still. It was not a comforting thought.

He dropped a kiss on Kathryn's lips and then headed off into the fading light, the Dark Mark burning urgently on his arm. They were getting close to the end of everything; he could feel it in the leaden depths of his soul. Kathryn was growing pale and nervous, though she thought that she hid it well. Orion had been surprisingly fussy over the last week and the castle had been filled with jumpy, on-edge students.

It was like a storm building on the horizon, the crackle of energy running along your skin as the tension of it built. Potter was suffering most of all. He was quiet in class, but growing rather strangely composed, as though he were so long in waiting that now that it was nearly here, he was almost relieved. He behaved as one already dead and gone and that was more alarming then all the rest.

The Forbidden Forest was dark and cool as he stepped into its shadow and the short trek to his apparition point was actually pleasant. Flowers bloomed pale and luminous in the indigo twilight, nestled at the base of the tall trees and he dreamed of walking here with Kathryn and Orion, free from fear or worry.

The sharp pain of the Mark recalled him to his task and he pulled his mask and cloak on, covering himself with their deception and the remembered violence permeating the folds and materials. Plunging his mind into icy indifference, he popped out of existence in one place and found himself somewhere else.

Tonight it was an old inn with wooden half-timbers and a cheery fire crackling in the hearth. It was meant to be cozy and comforting, to lull the mind and dull alertness. Severus shifted uneasily, disliking the chintzes and warm glowing woods of the place, not for themselves, but for what it indicated of Voldemort's state of mind. When the Dark Lord was feeling cheerful, it was always a bad sign.

"Ah, Severus, dear boy." Voldemort greeted him with an avuncular smile and Severus could feel his face freezing behind the mask. Worse and worse, he thought to himself, hiding his true feelings under a mental running patter of loyalty and anticipation.

"My Master." He replied and dropped to his knees, feigning an awe and humility he was far from feeling. "How may I serve you?" Had there really been a time when he had willingly followed this madman?

"The time is near, Severus. My full strength is returning to me and my allies assure me that I am now stronger than that fool, Dumbledore." Fenchurch hovered nearby with Miss Mangle standing near to him, with a look of gleeful evil on her porcelain doll's face.

"That is excellent news, my master." Severus put enthusiasm and anticipation into his voice and filled his mind with the image of Dumbledore lying broken and frail at Voldemort's feet. He buried his dread and concern deep down and sealed the door behind it.

Fenchurch moved away towards the back of the inn, Brinna trailing him. There was a sluggish shifting of limbs near the fireplace and Severus assumed that the night's 'entertainment' was being kept there.

"Yes, yes, I have waited so very long to have the power to crush the last resistance to our new and glorious future. Finally to have that future unfolding before me is almost intoxicating." Voldemort paused, eyes unfocused as he stared off into a potentiality only he could see. "Still, now is the time for the utmost caution, Severus." A quick change of mood and Voldemort's focus was once more in the here and now.

"Absolutely Master, now is not the time for carelessness." Severus agreed, nodding and ardent. It always amazed him how good he was at this strange game. He noted Brinna gazing idly out of a window while Fenchurch bent over the bundle of clothing on the floor. The shadowy figure twitched and Fenchurch chuckled.

"Precisely, Severus." Voldemort agreed enthusiastically. "I am so glad that at least one of my Death Eaters understands how important this moment is." A glare cast over his shoulder towards where Lucius stood, black robes falling in perfect pleats to the ground, mask held carelessly in one hand. His eyes were hard blue stones that told Severus that Lucius was in Voldemort's black books.

"I am merely concerned that your 'allies' are in this for their own good and not yours." Lucius' once well-modulated voice now held a deep bitterness that startled Severus. Had his madness really claimed him that he would speak so to the Dark Lord? His own startlement must have been apparent because Lucius sneered at him and Voldemort nodded sagely at his reaction.

"You see, even Severus is shocked by your doubt in me." Voldemort commented, with a misinterpretation that Severus gladly embraced.

"In truth Master, it is obvious that your allies have their own agenda, but I cannot believe you have not taken that into account." Severus kept his voice earnest as he spoke, gently luring his old master towards the sharp precipice of overconfidence. He did not dare risk a look in the direction of Fenchurch and Brinna; he doubted that he could have kept from betraying some thought or emotion if he did. Fenchurch was still occupied with tormenting whatever poor Muggle the Death Eaters had chosen for the night's fun.

"Of course I have, Severus." That avuncular tone was back and Voldemort was kindly and beaming again. Lucius frowned at Severus and he cocked his head at his old friend in return, wondering what he was up to.

"What plans do you think our Master could have made?" Lucius asked and suddenly Severus realized his danger. In his madness Lucius was becoming suspicious of everyone and it was now Severus' task to navigate between two shoals. He would have to balance his answers between Lucius' paranoia and Voldemort's.

"I am not a fraction of the wizard that our Master is, so I would not presume to guess what actions he has taken." Severus bowed a head at Voldemort who nodded, pleased by the praise. A thought occurred to Severus then, that he could play one card against another here. "I would guess that he has seen to it that his allies could be disposed of should they become… untrustworthy." Severus dropped his voice, making sure that the two demons could not overhear. Lucius gave him a thoughtful look now, the suspicion fading from his eyes.

"Indeed." Lucius' eyes drifted past Fenchurch and Brinna with a predatory look that made Severus rather nervous. He wouldn't mind if Fenchurch were disposed of, but Brinna was another matter.

"I hear that there are poisons fatal even to their kind." Voldemort murmured and Severus nodded.

"Holy Wrath." Severus whispered, hardly even breathing the name. The other two gave him a satisfied look and Severus nodded, understanding his orders. "How soon?" He fished.

"Before the week is out." Voldemort replied in a more normal tone. "I move on Dumbledore and Potter in two weeks, then it begins." Severus bowed his head and knelt to kiss Voldemort's hem.

Two weeks. He prayed there would be enough time to do all he had to do.

"My Master, it shall be done," he assured the red-eyed monster that sat crouched in his armchair like a loathsome reptile.

"But now, Lucius has brought us a special present." Voldemort cackled and Severus felt a welling of dread in his heart. Gesturing to the bundle of rags before the fireplace, the bloody orbs narrowed in glee and their Dark Lord rose to observe Fenchurch at his work.

Wishing that he was anywhere but there, Severus followed Voldemort. Brinna glanced at him and there was something in her eyes that made him stiffen his spine. Her brief look of compassion warned him that he would not like whatever was going to happen next.

"My dearest, greet Severus properly." Lucius murmured and the bundle shifted, revealing the ravaged face of the once beautiful Narcissa Malfoy. Severus held back a gasp by sheer force of will.

"Hello, Severus." The raspy voice was blank and empty and the eyes, a weary faded blue were completely devoid of sanity. The blond hair hung in unwashed matted clumps around her head and her face was one large bruise. Severus dropped down beside her and took her hand in his with a feeling of exhaustion. He was so tired of the endless horrors that paraded through his life.

"Oh Narcissa," he sighed out. "Couldn't you have just obeyed?" There was compassion in his voice, but also a weary sort of irritation. How stupid could someone be, after all?

"My wife felt that her figure and looks were more important than obedience to our Lord and Master." Lucius was gazing at his prostrate wife with a detached expression that cut at Severus. He was cast back through time to a wedding many years back, to a smiling and triumphant pair, both getting what they wanted and yet also very much in love. What had happened to that warmth and caring? Had it been eaten by their mutual ambition? Was it merely that two spoiled greedy children couldn't hold onto something as selfless as love for more than a few moments in time?

What on Earth would he tell Draco?

"Severus." Narcissa's voice wafted up to him and he looked down to see that she had curled her fingers around his with a childlike grasp. "You always thought me pretty, didn't you?"

"Everyone does," he answered truthfully and gently extracted his fingers from her grasp. "Why couldn't you just do as you were told?" He asked again, shaking his head. Severus rose and stepped back from the broken doll that had once been the elegant and sparkling Narcissa.

"A question I have often asked myself." Voldemort was watching him with a sharp gaze and Severus knew that his one-time master could see his pity for Narcissa as a weakness.

"It was such a simple request." Severus put bafflement and regret into his voice and shook his head again.

"Indeed. I thought it not at all unreasonable." Voldemort agreed and the avuncular tone was back. Severus knew that his danger was not past, but that suspicion had been allayed for the moment.

"A wife should be glad to do this for a husband." Lucius' tone was still detached and unemotional and Severus wondered just how deep the breakage went. Whatever had happened to him in Azkaban must have been terrible, for Lucius was not the man that Severus had once liked and respected.

"Lucius hates me." Narcissa's blunt statement was delivered in a singsong voice with a silly smile. "Marcus was better in bed anyway." The laughing spite in that voice finally moved Lucius to an emotion. He kicked her savagely, his face contorted in rage. She contracted around his booted foot, laughing through her pain and Severus winced behind his mask.

"Stupid cow." Lucius' anger had vanished, his emotions turned off again as though they had never been there at all. His voice was dead again and Severus knew that the next two weeks could be the hardest test of his acting abilities yet. No one in Voldemort's camp had been particularly sane to begin with and now they were all dangerous lunatics who had the run of the asylum.

"She is all yours, Fenchurch." Voldemort waved the demon forward and it required every ounce of willpower Severus had not to step between the doomed woman and her fate. Whatever he had thought of her, she didn't deserve this. She had been selfish and petty, playing at being bad rather than really being evil.

"No, please. I'll be good. I promise." Narcissa eyed the demon with real terror and her small whimpering voice tugged at Severus' heart.

Fenchurch smiled and stepped forward. He stooped down and lifted the trembling Narcissa in his arms as though she were weightless. There was a strange heat shimmer and the pair were gone.

He wondered if he would ever see her again and if he did, if she would be at all human.

"Good riddance to bad rubbish." Lucius smiled and wandered off to get himself something to drink.

"I am interested to see what Fenchurch will make of her." Voldemort commented with the quiet interest of an artist contemplating a new piece of canvas.

Severus was dreading the unveiling.

Many hours later he lay in bed, wrapped around Kathryn, wondering if he would be sane when this was all done. Perhaps he was mad already and just hadn't noticed. He stayed awake long into the night scaring himself with thoughts of the future ahead.

A/N - I hope it was worth the wait.


	52. Preparation for War

Chapter 52 – Preparation for War

Kathryn watched her class with an eagle-eyed intensity as she handed out the day's homework. "Two weeks," the words seemed to hum in her veins, jangling her nerves and pulling on her heart. She looked at the children in her care and wondered how many of them would be alive at the end of this. She gave Harry a small smile as he gathered up his books to leave and caught the frown on Draco's face as he left the room, with Crabbe and Goyle trailing him like the tail of a comet.

Each child, each face was studied and memorized. She had spent more time than usual in her office, listening to childhood complaints and soothing adolescent woes. Being a spy and a teacher had never been in such terrible opposition before. The teacher in her wanted to warn her classes, send them home to safety, but the spy in her kept smiling serenely, performing as usual and keeping that deadly silence. No one must know of Severus' information -- the timing of the final battle had to be a secret. Kathryn was growing used to being torn apart inside and she wasn't sure which was worse – the prospect of being destroyed by her conflicting duties or the possibility of growing inured to the horror of it.

Her next class came in and she smiled at them with perfect calmness. It was going to be a long, terrible day.

Stepping into the Room of Requirement was like walking into an icy river. The pained frozen expressions on the children's faces and the way that Minuet was curled up almost in a fetal position in Harry's lap hurt her. She put on her most brusque, matter-of-fact expression and raised an eyebrow at them all.

"Well, don't any of you have anything to do?" she addressed the DA with a small frown. There was a sudden thaw and the children scrambled for homework and bags and began to clear out, leaving Harry, Minuet, Draco and Hermione alone in the room with Kathryn.

Harry had a sad, rather distant look on his face, his arms wrapped around Minuet and his eyes on some far off vista only he could see. Draco was watching him with a worried frown and Hermione was eyes deep in a thick tome with yellowed pages and a musty smell.

"What are you reading?" Kathryn asked curious as to what could keep the girl enthralled at a time like this.

"Some daft bugger from the middle ages," Draco grumbled and Kathryn could see that she was stepping into the middle of an earlier conversation.

"Hieronymous Bosch," Hermione retorted and Kathryn blinked.

"The painter and alchemist?" She wouldn't say that she was surprised to find Miss Granger reading Bosch, but she was puzzled.

"Yes, he explains a counter to the Rite of Purity and has to clarify bits of it to describe his counter." Much became clear to Kathryn as Hermione's determined voice recited her reasoning and she nodded.

"You could have just asked," Kathryn muttered and the younger woman looked up at her in surprise.

"But I thought it was proscribed knowledge!" The wide-eyed look and slight tremor in the voice made Kathryn sigh.

"What part of Agent do you fail to understand?" The wry tone made Draco chuckle and Kathryn noticed that both Harry and Minuet were now focused on the conversation rather than their inner misery and fear.

"How can you fight something unless you have intimate knowledge of it?" Draco drawled lazily and Hermione flushed in embarrassed understanding.

"Precisely. Why do you think we have such tight bonds laid upon us?" That last bit was for Harry's benefit as well, since he was still fuming over Dumbledore's restrictions on his favorite teacher. Harry frowned, obviously still unconvinced, but he kept his peace.

"So Bosch indicates that the rite has something to do with the nature of spiritual purity," Hermione prodded.

"It's all crap of course," Kathryn muttered. "The whole idea that being a virgin bestows some mystical purity upon a girl." Hermione's eyes widened and Draco choked, while Harry and Minuet stared at her in shock. "Well, it is!" she added, a trifle irritated by their reactions. "There is nothing different about a soul before and after except that some of the other person's soul gets mingled in to yours and then only in cases of real affection and devotion," she continued and saw a look of speculation cross Harry's face.

"So why then…?" Draco started and Kathryn waved a dismissive hand.

"Medieval nonsense, that's why," she cut him off abruptly. "Sadly, the belief in that nonsense is often enough to charge the ceremony."

"The belief of the practitioner is essential to proper spell work," Hermione recited and her eyes were thoughtful.

"Very good, Miss Granger," she teased the bushy-haired teen with a smile.

"So whatever nonsense you believe in affects your casting?" Draco looked nonplussed by the thought.

"Is Neville a better wizard now than he was before?" Kathryn countered and they all nodded affirmative to her question. "Has he magically gained more knowledge?"

"No, just confidence." Harry had a tone in his voice that made Kathryn want to smile. He was thinking again, finding answers rather than merely fretting.

"Yes, but that confidence was all that he needed. That belief changes everything about him. Everyone, but especially we witches and wizards, is what we think ourselves to be. Magic works off of the Thaumaturgic Field, yes, but it also works through us. If we choke it off with our fears and insecurities, nothing happens. If however we open ourselves to it with confidence and surety, we can accomplish anything." She was speaking to them all but most especially to Harry.

"How do you do that?" Harry asked and she knew then that he was really listening to her now.

"You have to believe yourself limitless without forgetting that there are limits," she chuckled. The looks of confusion on their faces made her clarify. "You have to limit what you are willing to do and whom you are willing to hurt or you will become like the enemy. You can do anything but you mustn't do just anything or you loose yourself." They were all looking at her now and she sighed. "Magic has no morality, no compunctions. It's a living force but it's amoral. Magic is what we make of it and it in turn makes us over, depending on our choices."

"Thou art mortal," Hermione breathed and Kathryn nodded at the reference.

"What?" Draco asked. He, Harry and Minuet all looked confused and Hermione explained.

"Roman heroes and emperors always had a slave in their chariot that would ride with them when they were parading through the streets receiving the adulation of the masses. That slave would whisper in their ears over and over 'Thou art mortal' to remind them that for all the praise and power they had, they weren't gods and they had to stay humble."

"Voldemort needs someone who would whisper that to him," Harry muttered.

"He did once, but he killed him," Draco sighed. "He kills anyone who might remind him of his frailties."

"Don't ever let me forget, Min." Harry gazed into her eyes with a worried look. Minuet snorted and hit him on the arm.

"Idiot. As if I would ever let you forget for a moment that you are a crazed danger-loving Gryffindor." She rolled her eyes and Harry relaxed and grinned back at her.

"Slytherin," He teased.

"And don't you forget it!" She shot back. Kathryn could feel the fear and tension easing out of the room.

"You still haven't told me what the Rite does," Hermione dragged the conversation back around to a less pleasant topic.

"It's designed to clear the muck out of a person's soul by dumping it into the soul of a 'pure' virgin." Kathryn decided that bluntness was her best option with them. Hermione dealt well with things and Harry couldn't stand lies or half-truths.

"I don't think I would fancy that." Hermione tried to make a joke of it, but Draco was looking very grave.

"I think you need to seduce Gabriel sooner rather than later," Draco murmured and Kathryn nearly choked as a blush rose on Hermione's face. Her brother and Hermione? A long moment's thought, as the children stared at her in concern, letting her turn it over in her mind and she could see how the attraction could be there.

"You two would be surprisingly compatible, but Mother would have a fit," Kathryn warned. Hermione frowned and cocked her head.

"Why?"

"Because she is one of those pure-blooded snobs who think that a Muggleborn is one step above a monkey." Kathryn's own revulsion for her mother's prejudice made her comment sound somewhat angrier then she had intended. Hermione flushed with rage and her jaw set into a determined jut.

"That's typical of some of the Professor's family. There are plenty of social climbing, purse-lipped, judgmental pains in the arse hanging on that particular tree." Draco let the words drawl out and Kathryn smiled at seeing him model himself on Severus. It was a vocal trick her beloved often used and Draco wielded it to good effect. Hermione's face returned to a more normal color and she sighed.

"I guess I am going to run into this a lot in my life. It's just that it never seems to get easier to deal with."

"I can't imagine that it would, or even that it should," Kathryn pointed out. "I doubt that the Blacks, the Jews or the Indians would tell you to 'get over it'. You shouldn't have to deal with the sort of narrow-minded bigotry that ignorant, self-deluding fools indulge in." Kathryn was feeling herself lose control of her temper and began to tamp down on it hard.

"Sadly, that isn't the world we live in." Harry was smiling at her and Kathryn sighed. "Getting yourself in a pother about it won't change anything either."

"How did you get so smart, Harry?" Kathryn ruffled his hair, still working to keep her temper under control.

"So will all of the Leblancs hate me?" Hermione asked tentatively.

"Probably not. Dad is great but mother is old school. The Laveaus are pretty tolerant usually, but Mother got so much flack from being Marie Laveau's daughter that she got a trifle stuffy in response. Grand-mere will adore you, as she loves smart people. My other grandmother will be pretty snotty, I can assure you of that, but just stand up to the old battleaxe and you'll be fine." Kathryn couldn't quite believe that she was coaching the seventeen-year-old girl in how to get along with her family once she married into it. After all, she was much younger than Gabriel. "Are you sure about this? Gabe isn't exactly the easiest person to get close to."

"And Professor Snape is?" Hermione shot back with a raised eyebrow.

"Touché, Miss Granger, touché." Kathryn had no doubt that her expression of wry amusement was what caused the kids to burst into laughter, but it must have been the releasing of stress more than anything that had them rolling on the floor. She wasn't that funny, was she?

Kathryn sat on the floor and watched Orion playing. He kept grabbing small toys and shoving them in his mouth so he could drool happily on them. His black hair was softly curling and his gray eyes were fixed on the collection of blocks and balls that he was dampening with enthusiasm.

He wasn't her son and sometimes there was a wistful little hurt in her that that was so. She wished that she could have carried and birthed him, nursed him and someday when he asked her, told him that yes she was his mommy for real. Instead, someday she would have to tell him the whole terrible truth; she would have to watch his face as he absorbed her words.

"Kathryn?" Severus' resonant tones intruded on her and she looked up and realized that he was blurred. She wiped her eyes, surprised to find tears in them.

"Sorry, just thinking about the future," she admitted and he nodded, settling himself onto the couch behind her. She leaned back against his knees and he began pulling at the pins that held her bun in place.

"Brats whinging at you again?" Harsh words, delivered in a conversational tone, she thought idly. How does he do that? I ought to bristle at his words, but it only soothes me.

"Hermione is after my brother." She turned the subject away from herself and heard his amused chuckle.

"Yes, I suspected as much after the rescue." Now he put real sarcasm into his voice, tinged with a slightly indulgent air.

"You understand that if she marries him and you marry me, you'll be her brother-in-law." Kathryn pointed out dryly and felt Severus' hands freeze in her hair for a moment before returning to their task.

"I hadn't thought quite so far ahead." He sounded subdued and she understood. Anything beyond the upcoming battle had been wiped out of his mind.

"I know." He had undone her hair completely now and was busy combing out the strands with his fingers. The long brown length of it, with the lines of copper and gold shot through it was heavy across her shoulders and the slight tugs of his fingers were relaxing. She was tired and it was almost Orion's bedtime.

"Mama." Orion's piping voice, which had been engaged in a stream of nonsense up until then suddenly, became clear and articulate. Kathryn sat up straight in shock and amazement scooping the little boy into her arms. Severus stared at the child over her shoulder and Kathryn grinned at him.

"Did you hear that?"

"I did." Severus' voice had dropped to a reverent tone and Kathryn could feel his pride and also the slight hurt that it had been 'Mama' and not 'Papa' that had been Ryan's first word.

"Here I was certain that he would never think of me as his mother," she admitted softly. Severus brushed his hand across her hair.

"Idiot woman, what else would he think?" Kathryn found herself grinning at the baby, wondering how Severus made the word 'Idiot' sound so affectionate.

"Well, he could think that Winky was his Mama," She retorted and Severus snorted in reply. "She spends more time with him than we do after all." The regret in that was more palpable than she had realized.

"Well, we could always have you quit as a teacher, spend every waking minute with him and slowly drive him mad with your own boredom after a week, if that would make you happy." The low snarky tone got a poke in the ribs for reply.

"It's bedtime." She would not dignify his previous comment with a verbal reply and instead she hoisted her son up in her arms and headed for bed.

"I thought not." Severus murmured behind her and she resisted the effort to stick out her tongue at him.

"Horrible man." The words were delivered very mildly, however and she knew that he didn't believe her for a moment.

As she drifted off to sleep that night she wondered how she was going to get through two weeks of this. Then a worse thought hit her, her time to choose had almost come. Would she shield Severus or Harry during the battle? Her heart or the world? Would she even have a choice, or would the spells that bound her override her free will? It was late indeed when she finally fell asleep.


	53. Dangerous Roads

Chapter 53 – Dangerous Roads

Minuet sat on the wooden stool and slowly stirred the cauldron. She was beginning to really appreciate why Uncle Severus always seemed to retreat here to the laboratory when things were going badly.

The tapestries on the walls with their images of plants and landscapes, the black iron candelabra that sent light spilling across the wooden tables and glittering among the bottles and alembics, the way time seemed to stand still down here, only the soft susurrus of sand through the hourglass, timing the steps of the potion -- it was soothing and relaxing. She chopped and sliced, ground and stirred with a metronome's precision. She knew that her pieces weren't as perfectly even as the Potion Master's and that her brew would not be nearly as potent as something he had made, but it wasn't important. All that mattered was the task: the concentration she brought to bear on it and the accomplishment of something both difficult and sublime.

It wasn't until she had bottled the last drop that she realized that her hands were cramped and her back was sore. Time seemed to rush back in on her, washing her with exhaustion. A weary satisfaction in a job well done made her smile despite her stiffness and pain, and the peace that had come from the brewing remained.

She picked up one of the bottles and stared at the dull, murky potion as it swirled inside. It had an oil-slick look to it, black from a distance but filled with rainbows of iridescence upon closer inspection. She compared her potion to the picture in the book with satisfaction. They looked identical.

Only one thing left to try.

She uncapped the bottle and took a sip. It tasted like spoiled lemons and smelled like tar. She kept herself from gagging only through sheer willpower. With gritted teeth she reached out a finger towards a candle. As her finger got closer she could feel the heat only as a faint sensation and emboldened by this she thrust her finger straight into the flame.

No pain. No burning smell.

She smiled. Her potion was a complete success. With a feeling of smugness she closed the ancient book and then carefully stored her potions on the shelves behind her.

Whistling, she headed off to morning classes.

By the end of the day she was feeling far less happy. There had never been a worse time to be a Slytherin, she thought with some irritation. Why couldn't Voldemort have been a Ravenclaw or a Hufflepuff, she wondered morosely. The sideways looks from the other houses, the thinly veiled insults that she overheard in the hallways, it all combined to make her feel uneasy and unsafe.

"Hello Minuet." She turned and found the lanky Thomas skipping down the steps behind her.

"Hello Thomas," she replied with a smile. The teenaged dragon was becoming one of her favorite people these days and not just because they were related. He was always cheerful and even-tempered, if a trifle shy. He was in fact the exact opposite of what she thought a dragon would be.

"You done with classes?" He walked along beside her, all knees and elbows, like a bundle of sticks put together by a first grader to imitate a person. He had a stumbling gait and an unsure look in his eye, but always that sweetness about him that made you understand why his best friend was an angel.

"Yes. You have fun in the library?" They were garnering looks from passersby; the black-haired, dark-eyed Minuet and the blond-haired, blue-eyed Thomas made a startling contrast, she so short and he so tall.

"Yes, I did. Do you remember the conversation we were having yesterday?" Minuet nodded in response. "Well, you said something about a chapel of dragons?." He peeked at her from under the blond mop of his hair and she grinned and grabbed his hand.

"This way." She dragged him off to her other favorite place in Hogwarts.

The chapel was empty when they arrived, but that wasn't unusual; very few people ever seemed to use it. Thomas stepped through the door and his mouth dropped open in wonderment.

The high vaulted ceilings whitewashed in a pale creamy color, the tall arched windows frosted to let in a wintry light and the bleached wood pews were the same as they had been the first time Harry had brought her there. What always fascinated Minuet though were the dragons. They were carved into every surface, their lithe and slender forms entwined as they danced up the pillars and across the backs of the pews. The altar at the front of the tiny chapel was a carving of two dragons entwined to form a base, with a sheet of white marble veined in gray topping it. It was an unchanging oasis in the school, a place untouched by time. In its own way it was as dear to her as Uncle Severus' lab or the Room of Requirement.

"It's amazing," Thomas breathed out.

"Harry and the others went down a Dragon Road under the altar and found the Sleeping King, they told stories to an ancient Fey and did all sorts of neat things," Minuet murmured enviously. She wished that she could have seen the Fey and the Dragon Road. It must have been wonderful.

"The Elders are difficult to deal with. Even Mother is careful of them and one wouldn't want to disturb the Sleeper." Thomas was watching her with knowing eyes and she sighed.

"I still would have liked to see a Dragon Road; after all, it's my heritage too." She knew she was sounding somewhat whiney but it always seemed like everyone else got to go on adventures and she only got to be menaced by Death Eaters.

"I forgot for a moment that you're my – what… grand niece, great-grand niece?" Thomas tried to puzzle out the relationship with a small frown. "Your grandmother was my mother's eldest grandchild." He started to count on his fingers and then shrugged. "Either way, it is your heritage as well." He fell silent and Minuet had a moment of concern. Maybe she should have kept her mouth closed. "It would be rude to open a Road back to the fey, since Professor Leblanc said she sealed it up." Minuet wondered when that conversation had taken place. "Still, Dragon Roads can go many places."

Thomas leaned his head back and roared. Minuet almost jumped out of her skin as he did so, the noise shook the room and reverberated off of the ceiling. The altar trembled and then slid aside, revealing a dark hole in the floor. Thomas grinned at her and extended a hand. "Care to go exploring?"

"Don't mind if I do," Minuet replied with an answering grin.

Hand in hand, they approached the altar and Minuet leaned forward over the opening. A staircase in white marble stretched away down into the earth and delicate filigree light fixtures illuminated the passage, just as Harry had described. She followed the teenaged dragon down the stairs with a grin of anticipation. Finally, she was going to be able to do something interesting, rather than listening to other people's adventures.

A grinding sound advertised the altar sliding back into place and Minuet remembered the last time she had gone underground: the Elves and the Goblins and the adventure she had had then, cut short when Professor Leblanc had sent them back out of harm's way.

"Pensive face you got there, niece." Thomas broke into her thoughts and she jerked slightly in surprise.

"I was thinking about the Elves," she admitted to him. "We all went looking for the cause to some earthquakes we'd been having and it turned out to be Goblins. The Queen's Minstrel and some other Elves came through the gate in the Forest hunting the goblins and we went underground then, too." She wasn't sure if that came out sounding as crazy as she thought it did, but Thomas merely nodded, as though Elves and such were quite common where he came from. On the other hand, maybe they were.

"I've always liked Elves, though there aren't many in the Circus. We have some pixies though, and lots of sprites." She blinked, trying to make sense of Thomas's words.

"What Circus?" she asked, confused.

"The Circus of Miracles." Thomas opened his mouth and then closed it again. "It's hard to explain," he added. There was something about the way he said that which made her close her mouth on all the questions that had crowded into her brain. "They winter in the town I live in." Minuet knew that was all she would get on that subject, by the way his jaw clamped shut.

"So where does this road go?" she asked instead and his expression of approval for her restraint was ample reward.

"No idea. A Dragon Road tends to go where it wants to go, which is why most dragons prefer to fly." There was a mischievous look in his eyes and Minuet knew a challenge when she heard one. She affected a shrug and simply continued forward, feigning nonchalance.

No Slytherin worth her salt would ever admit nervousness.

Still, it was an ancient road with a mind of its own.

Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.

An hour later Minuet was tiring, but unwilling to look weak in front of Thomas. It wasn't just that he was a dragon; it was that he was an older boy whom she had wrangled into this trip. It wouldn't do to complain now.

The road came to an abrupt right-hand turn after they had been going straight for what seemed like miles. They turned and stepped into what could only be a dragon-sized great hall. The two of them stopped in sheer amazement at the size of the place.

It was built like nothing Minuet had ever seen before and it took her a moment to grasp the reason why. It was built by a flying race for only their use. Balconies lined the walls for the dragons to rest and watch whatever was supposed to happen in the central area. Concave pits lined in furs and silks bracketed the aisles that led from four directions to merge into one large raised dais. Light seemed to fill the place but had no discernable source and everything was sumptuously decorated with dazzling mosaics filled with dragons -- flying, sitting on eggs, breathing fire, weaving tapestries and doing all sorts of other tasks.

"It's the Hall of Convocation," Thomas breathed out in awe.

"What's that?" Minuet asked in an equally hushed voice.

"Back in ancient times, when Dragons were many and intensely fighting the wars against the Dark, before many of them left this world and flew away into the void to search for other places to live, this was the Hall of Convocation. All the great decisions were made here, all the laws were decided upon and judgments were passed. It was the center of Draconic Culture." Thomas was staring around him hungrily. "Mother has told me stories about this place, but I have never been here before."

"It must be hard being the child of a person who has seen ages pass," Minuet murmured thoughtfully, chewing on her lip. "Makes it hard to get away with anything, I bet." Thomas rolled his eyes and nodded.

"Don't you try that trick on me, Thomas Harris; I saw through that one before the last ice age," Thomas mimicked his mother's voice with hands on hips and Minuet chuckled. "It's impossible to fool her and I am positive she really does have eyes in the back of her head." His long-suffering tones made Minuet laugh again and the sound of her voice echoed throughout the Hall, causing a musical thrum to start up as the vibration seemed to set the ancient carved walls to hum.

"This place must have been deafening with thousands of dragons talking and arguing. The way the walls vibrate must have been really hard to hear through," Minuet observed, but Thomas shook his head.

"That wasn't the walls," Thomas croaked. She looked at him in startlement and saw that he was white as a sheet and staring at the dais in alarm. Minuet turned to look where he was looking but could see nothing.

"What was it then?" Minuet asked, urgency in her voice.

"The Ancestors, the Sh'Dai." Thomas' voice was so low that Minuet had to strain to hear it.

"Is that bad?"

"Just really weird. I thought they had left with the Diaspora."

Sound started up like an orchestra tuning its instruments; multiple threads of music being played by thousands of musicians that slowly came together to form a recognizable tune. The music spoke to something inside of Minuet, it spoke in a language she had never known before but that was intimately familiar to her. It was as if the burbling speech of her babyhood had suddenly returned to her and been made comprehensible.

"We are the Sh'Dai, we greet our children's children with interest." The great chorus of voices sang to them both.

"We are of World Seekers' line out of Oroboros," Thomas sang back to them, his single voice seeming dwarfed by the thunderous sound of the Sh'Dai.

"Ah, you are Sword Maker's Children." There was a note of censure in that, and also a feeling of affection. The love and irritation were mixed up together, sounding like a fond parent speaking of a wayward child.

"Yes, Ancestors."

"Only one of you has weight." Minuet frowned at that, confused, but Thomas nodded and answered them.

"Minuet is not able to change, but the blood runs in her." It occurred to Minuet to wonder what Thomas weighed. If he could shift into a huge dragon, where did he keep the extra mass?

"Ah." It was a sibilant hiss and it made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. "What brings you to this place?"

"The Road brought us here," Thomas admitted with a thoughtful air. There was a pause, a strange waiting silence and then the voices spoke again.

"The Road has its own reasons and none may know them all." Minuet blinked in surprise, unsure what the Ancestors were talking about. Didn't they know why the Dragon Roads ran as they did? "Tell us of the world and the passage of days," commanded the voices and Thomas settled cross-legged onto the ground and began to speak.

Minuet was bored and restless. Thomas had been talking himself hoarse answering questions and telling history to the Sh'Dai for hours. When Harry had talked of telling stories to the Elf in the tunnels it had sounded romantic, but having to sit through a recitation of familiar history to unseen voices was monotonous.

"This Voldemort, you say he has a large snake with him?" Thomas paused and blinked, thrown off stride by the sudden question.

"Yes, he calls it Nagini." Thomas looked puzzled by the sudden interest of the Ancestors.

"We know of this one. It is a lesser Wyrm." There was a cacophony of sound, as the voices seemed to argue with each other for a long moment. Minuet clapped her hands over her ears to protect her hearing as the voices ran up and down the scales, hitting notes no human voice could reach.

"Is there a problem?" Thomas asked loudly, cutting across the argument. The voices fell silent and then spoke in unison again.

"Our kind, the Ancient ones, we agreed not to interfere in the destinies of men. Even the lesser Wyrms agreed to this. For this Nagini to have broken that vow and to have allied herself with a mortal presents us with a … problem." Minuet shivered at the ominous tone the Sh'Dai used on that last word. Thomas' awe of them suddenly made sense -- there was a feeling of energy moving across her scalp and she wrapped her arms around herself, suddenly afraid.

"Voldemort has also allied himself with a creature of the Ancient Dark, a demon that calls itself Fenchurch," Thomas added.

"It was never expected that the Dark would keep their word. That is why your mother and her kin remained behind on this world while the others left. She and all her line were set as guardians." There was another pause. "However one expects more … honorable behavior from Wyrms." There was a note of genuine disappointment in the voices and Minuet felt sadness radiating off of them. "The ages pass and all things change." There was such a mournful quality to that statement that it almost made her want to cry. She could feel the crushing weight of time pressing down on these ancient souls and it was nearly overwhelming.

"Yes, that is so." Thomas's voice was filled with hope and his optimism lightened Minuet's heart.

"You are your mother's child." There was warmth and affection there and Minuet found herself smiling at their gentle tone. "It cannot be allowed for this Wyrm to affect the destiny of men." The Sh'Dai muttered darkly.

"It's too late, Nagini's milk kept Voldemort alive when he should have died. He has regained his strength already and the damage is done," Minuet pointed out with some asperity.

"Then there must be balancing." The voices murmured. They were sounding softer and more distant now. "Children of the Sword Maker, there are many ways to balance justice. It is up to you to decide how this crime must be redressed." The voices were fading fast, as though whatever strength they had had was being used up fast.

"Us?" squeaked Minuet in alarm.

"We are the swords of justice; we are the keepers of the balance. If we fail, all is lost." The voices trailed away to nothing and Thomas and Minuet were left standing in this ancient place feeling very young and alone.

"What did they mean by that?" Minuet asked him softly.

"It's something mother says, that dragons fought for light because the dark was so strong, but that what we really craved was balance and even-handed justice for all." He frowned and his eyes crinkled in thought.

"I think that the reason Marie Laveau sent me to this battle is Nagini. Somehow she knew that it would take a dragon to balance this wrong."

"They said 'children', not 'child' -- that means me too." Minuet crossed her arms and glared at Thomas. He was frowning and shaking his head in negation but she met his eyes in bold defiance. "I'm not a stupid Gryffindor or anything, Thomas. I won't go off and do something idiotically heroic. However, I know duty and the Sh'Dai have instructed me in it. I cannot turn my back on this."

Thomas stared at her for a long time and their wills struggled against each other. Minuet might have been younger than he was, but she was a thousand times more stubborn and in the end, he dropped his eyes and conceded her point.

"Very well, but any attempt at 'idiotic heroics' and I will not hesitate to lock you in a dungeon until this is all over." Thomas was frowning fiercely and Minuet nodded. That was easy to agree with; after all she wasn't Harry or anything.

She had some common sense.


	54. Chapter 54

Chapter 55 – The Long Goodbye

Minuet looked up at Hermione with some concern. The older girl had been feverishly studying all evening. Normally, Hermione studying wouldn't have seemed odd, after all it was Hermione. But tonight there was something feverish about her, something that disturbed Min.

"You all right?" Min asked in a soft voice.

Hermione looked up at her with a frown.

"N.E.W.T.s," she replied, with a touch of irritation at the interruption. Minuet was tempted to let it lie, but the bushy hair was wilder than usual and the frown lines more deeply graven then she had ever seen them before.

"Pull the other one, it has got bells on it," she retorted, with a roll of her eyes. Hermione opened her mouth on what looked to be a pretty hot retort and then closed it again.

"It's Ron," she admitted slowly. Minuet nodded in sudden comprehension. Since the little row in Hogsmeade, Ron had been conspicuous by his absence. Harry had been silent on the subject, but Min knew how much his friend's coldness had affected him.

"You know, there is something that none of you have thought about," she ventured with great wariness. She knew that she was a latecomer into this relationship and tended to tread warily because of that.

"Oh?" Hermione gave her an encouraging look and Minuet took a deep breath.

"His parents know his better than anyone and he might actually listen to them." she suggested and Hermione's face lit up.

"Min, you are brilliant, utterly brilliant!" Hermione abandoned her books and left the Room of Requirement without a backwards look. Minuet smiled and hoped that it would turn out all right. With the final battle looming before them, it would be awful if any of them died before they could patch up their friendship.

Kathryn sat back and watched as Albus Dumbledore tried to explain to the Weasleys how he had managed to "forget" to mention that their youngest son was dating a demon. It was utterly classic. Of course, she realized suddenly, she hadn't thought to mention it to them either and she had seen them several times at Order meeting since she had found out.

That was an embarrassing slip up.

"To be honest, Molly, Arthur, there was just so much going on that I wasn't certain of who knew what," Albus finally admitted. "I assumed that Ron had talked to you about his new girlfriend."

"No, for all we knew, he was still dating Hermione," Arthur replied, his voice soft, but with his eyes filed with both concern and anger.

"What happened between Hermione and my Ron that drove him to a demon," Molly's voice was rising in indignation and Kathryn moved to stop that train of reasoning before it began.

"She did nothing wrong, absolve her of any responsibility in this," she snapped, defending the absent girl. "Ron met a pretty girl who had a thousand years of experience at manipulating young men. Hermione never stood a chance." The starkness of that truth surprised Arthur and Molly, she could see it in their eyes.

"But now that he knows, why doesn't he leave her and come back to Hermione?" Molly asked, still raging, but under better control now.

"Well, two things," Albus began slowly. "One: he doesn't wish to admit to such a grievous error in front of his best friends, and Two: the demon in question is not entirely evil." Hearing him say it made Kathryn wince a little.

The resultant explosion from the Weasleys was completely understandable.

"You owled my parents!" Ron raged at them. "What right did you have to do that?" Minuet was trying to look as small as possible as the redhead screamed at his two best friends.

"You wouldn't even talk to us, we were worried," Harry replied, his voice calm and his eyes sad. Minuet didn't know why he wasn't angry at all, but he just stood there facing down Ron'sfury with a gentle sadness.

"So you owled my parents and told them I was dating a demon?" Put that way. it sounded rather bad.

"You are dating a demon," Hermione shot back angrily. Her response was more what Minuet had expected. A good brawl might clear the air between them, but Harry's lack of anger concerned Minuet.

"She's not like that, but I don't expect you to understand!" Ron shouted at her.

"Actually we do understand you prat, she saved my life!" Hermione yelled back and Ron fell silent in surprise.

"What?"

"If you had been talking to us, you would have known that," Hermione muttered.

"I don't understand. First you tell me to break up with her because she's evil and now you say you know she's not." Ron looked a little shell shocked.

"We were wrong about her and we're sorry," Harry sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"She's not entirely good," Ron admitted slowly. "But I love her and I know she can find her way back." The last was said with a defiant tone and he seemed surprised by the answering agreement from Harry and Hermione.

"Does that mean that you forgive Snape about Orion?" Harry asked, with a patience and kindness that surprised the other boy.

"I've been an idiot about a lot of things, but Brinna has made me see that black and white aren't the only options," Ron admitted with a rueful smile.

"Well, then she has already done good for you," Harry answered and Ron broke into a beatific smile.

"Friends?" he asked, with a shy duck of the head.

"Forever!" Hermione shouted and Minuet slipped away to let them hug and cry in privacy.

Later on, sitting in Binns' class, listening to him drone on about the Goblin Wars, Minuet had time to wonder.

Could you ever really trust a demon? Even if she was striving towards redemption, was it at all certain that when push came to shove she wouldn't revert to form and go all darkside on them?

Minuet turned the thought around in her mind, but couldn't see an answer to it.

In the end, she decided that Uncle Severus was probably a better judge about the possibility of redemption from evil than she was and she would just have to trust him to know what to do if this went badly.

But just in case, she would need a back-up plan.

It took many hours to calm Molly and Arthur down and get them to a semblance of calm about the situation. Kathryn was deeply grateful that Severus wasn't present for the discussion, his protectiveness of Brinna was such that the sorts of things that Molly was saying about her would have caused some real problems.

"My youngest children cannot seem to keep from meddling with the Dark," Arthur muttered and Kathryn winced yet again. She hadn't forgotten about Tom Riddle's diary exactly, but it certainly hadn't been something she had considered in her dealings with the Weasleys. She could see how that particular experience could make any parent a little paranoid.

It wasn't as though the two of them didn't have a point, after all. Despite everything, Brina was a demon...sort of. She sighed deeply and wished ardently for the days when the lines between good and evil were more clearly defined, at least in her own mind.

"Its not as though we don't understand your objections, Molly," Albus was saying, still trying to calm down Ron's mother.

"You're just willing to risk my son's life on the chance that this creature might turn good," Molly retorted and now it was Albus' turn to wince.

"No, he means that Ron is willing to risk his life for the person he is in love with and that we don't have much say in the matter," Kathryn corrected gently. "His loyalty and compassion may be the very things that could save her."

"Or they could get him killed," Molly reminded her.

"Either way, you raised him to be the man he is today and that man has chosen to stand by Brinna's side, no matter what," Albus broke in gently, but with firmness.

"Grandmére would say that fate's guiding hand cannot be redirected easily," Kathryn sighed, wishing she had something better with which to soothe them.

"You don't have children of your own, do you?" Molly returned with some venom. Kathryn groaned and rubbed her eyes with her fists.

"Molly, if Orion was in this situation I would be as worried and angry as you are. His life and safety aren't things that I would want to gamble with. But Ron is seventeen, of legal age, and – arguably – of sound mind. There is damn little any of us can do about this. Hell, he wouldn't even talk to Harry and Hermione for months because they were against the relationship. What exactly do you think we can do?" She was frustrated, tired and frightened. She just wanted to go to bed and sleep.

"I don't know," Molly deflated and the weariness and grief in her face made Kathryn feel like a monster. "I just want him safe, that's all."

"Tell that to the other side," Kathryn grumbled to herself and was glad that no one heard her.

Ron Weasley was standing in front of his desk and trying manfully to apologize. There was a part of Severus that wanted to not accept the stammering boy's regrets, however Arthur was still one of Severus' few friends and he supposed that he owed it to him to be a trifle gracious to his son.

"I know that I've been a prat, sir. I don't expect you to forgive me for it, but I am sorry," he concluded rather mournfully.

"If Albus Dumbledore could forgive me my past sins – which were a thousand times worse than your own, by the way – then I can hardly do less by you, Weasley," he answered after a moment. The boy beamed at him and Severus sighed. They were all just so damnably young. Just looking at the fresh-faced youth made him feel old and dirty.

"Thank you sir." Weasley seemed smiling and happy again, but Severus' practiced eyes could pick out a the underlying worry and tension. He understood all too well what the young man feared, because he shared that concern.

The final confrontation was coming and neither one of them was entirely certain which side Brinna would end up on.

Minuet was sitting alone in the Room of Requirement for a change. She had escaped the tension of the Great Hall and sought out the sanctuary of the Room early in the evening. She had apparently needed a music room today, because the place was done in Rococo golden cherubs and had a giant piano in the middle of the room. There were other instruments as well, but it was the piano that was causing her the most trouble.

It was a Spellbound piano, one of the finest instruments ever made. She had desperately wanted one as a child, but even her father hadn't been wealthy enough to get one for her. Marcus Spellbinder had only made five of them and they were not for sale by their owners for any amount of money. Her fingers itched to play it, but instead she stared angrily at it from across the room.

She had, of course, had music lessons all her life. All purebred young witches did. It was just that after her father had been arrested, Mademoiselle Giselle had abruptly stopped coming to teach her. The dance mistress, the painting teacher, they had also gone away, but it had been the loss of her piano lessons that had hit her the hardest.

Her anger and grief over that had been tucked away with all the other sorrows attendant on the event. She had pretended that it didn't matter as she tended to Tina's needs and bolstered up her mother.

Now she was eyeing the piano with hostility. It wasn't the instrument's fault, of course, but it was a symbol of all that had changed for her. It sat there, taunting her with her lost childhood.

"I survived and I can live without you," she hissed at the black Spellbound Grand.

"Um, Min, you are talking to a piano," Harry's voice cut through her introspection and she spun in surprise.

"I didn't hear you come in," she admitted, with a rueful grimace.

"I can see that," he teased. "So, do I need to vanquish the piano for you?" He was joking, she knew, but there was an undertone of seriousness. The fact that Harry was willing to fight to protect her was something she took for granted, but at that moment she saw herself for the weakness that she potentially could be for him.

"No, Harry, its not the piano's fault," she replied, but her mind was now on something completely different.

"Then why were you trying to hex it with your eyes?" he asked and she snorted in amusement.

"It was reminding me of everything my father lost for us all," she answered, sighing.

"So it talks back?" he asked in interest, wandering over to the ebony and gold instrument.

"Of course not, Harry, pianos don t talk," she chortled.

"Hey, before I got here, I would have said the same thing about paintings," he shot back and she nodded. Things that she took for granted were often alien and new to Harry.

"That piano doesn't need to talk," she answered and gave into the inevitable.

She sat down before the instrument and settled her fingers over the keys. There was a soft thrumming in her bones as the piano read her and readjusted to her height and reach and then she settled in to play.

Harry sat in one of the nearby upholstered chairs and watched her. Minuet, black hair back in a ponytail, strands working loose to fall around her face, eyes intent on the keys before her, was probably the most heartbreakingly beautiful thing he had ever seen. She had a stubborn little chin and her nose was a little sharp, but her huge dark eyes softened the aristocratic features and her easy smile made her more pixie than princess to him.

She started to play and he gasped in surprise.

Magical pianos were apparently more like keyboards than pianos. The music that she conjured forth was something slow and sort of classical sounding, but there were the sounds of violins, birds chirping,the wind through the trees, and other things that he couldn't identify so easily.

She played the same way that she lived, with an assurance and grace far beyond her years. He wondered sometimes what she had paid for her maturity. He knew some of it. He knew that the social ostracism she had endured had strengthened her, but the core of maturity had been there long before, he suspected.

The music was evoking a forest glade, he realized suddenly. The creaking of the trees, the songs of the birds, the wind in the branches, and the soft melody that threaded through it all, they created the sensation that you were surrounded by invisible trees. He closed his eyes and could almost see the glade, sun slanting through the branches, making dappled patterns on the leaf-strewn ground.

He opened his eyes again and saw the slender form of the girl who had stolen his heart. Her face was sad and he wished that he could make every childhood hurt go away.

Look at her, he thought. She looks perfectly at home in all this splendor. She was born to wealth and privilege, to the aristocratic pureblooded society of wizards and witches. He came from the suburbs of Muggle London. She was polished and graceful and completely at ease.

The doubts started to grow in his mind and he could feel a sort of despair eating away at him.

"Harry?" Minuet was beside him and he realized that the music had stopped.

"Why on earth would you want me, when there are so many better choices, Min," he asked, anguished and filled with a sudden self loathing.

Minuet stared at him in shock for a moment and then cupped his face in her hands and stared him in the eyes.

"Because you see me, Harry. You look at me and see me. You don't see my father or my lineage, or the advantages or disadvantages to an alliance with my family, you don't even see a Slytherin." She took a breath. "I love you because you are smart, funny, caring, gentle, kind, brave, noble and utterly adorable," she said with a soft smile and her heart in her eyes. "I wouldn't want to be with anyone else in the entire universe." her voice and tone penetrated the gloom that had washed over him and he shook himself.

"Sorry, I don't know where all that came from," he admitted.

"I do," she whispered back and he shivered in sudden understanding. They had nearly gotten him and he hadn't even realized what was happening.

With a fierceness that surprised them both. he pulled her into his arms and kissed her hard. He forgot that she was still only fifteen and that he wasn't supposed to be doing this. He forgot everything, but that they needed each other.

Her soft sighs and panting woke him to his responsibilities and he paused to take a breath and pull back.

"Don't you dare, Harry Potter," she growled at him and pulled him back to her mouth. He thought of a thousand good reasons why he shouldn't be doing this, including the fact that Snape would find uniquely painful ways of making him pay for it, but the look in her eyes made him realize that any punishment was worth it.

If he was going to die in a few days anyway, he might as well just do what they both wanted anyway.

Either way he would die, either Voldemort would kill him or Snape would.


End file.
